THE HISTORY OF INDIA THE HISTORY OF INDIA THE HINDU AND MAHOMETAN PERIODS BY THE HON. MOUNTSTUART ELPHINSTONt, WITH NOTES AND ADDITIONS BY E. B. COWELL, M.A. LATE PRINCIPAL OF SANSKRIT COLLEGE, CALCUTTA NINTH EDITION LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. DS PRINTED BY HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., LONDON AND AYLESBURY. PUBLISHER'S NOTE THIS edition of Elphinstone's History of India is a faithful reprint of the eighth. Great care has been taken to preserve the original spelling of Hindu names as it was left hy author and editor respectively. A large number of printer's errors have been rectified, and a very few passages in the text which were obscure have been put into clear English. The list of qualities in the chapter on Philosophy (p. 122), the incompleteness of which had, curiously enough, re- mained undetected for sixty -two years, has now been completed. The Publisher has to thank Sir George Birdwood for his kindness in supplying the omissions. January, 1905. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIFTH EDITION ALL history has been roughly divided into four portions, as characterized by a greater or less amount of evidence. Lowest of all is the legendary period, where everything is unauthenticated tradition; next is the semi-historical, where, though the main element is still tradition, we have also certain contemporary monuments, which, so far as they go, can be relied on ; and last, we come to history, properly so called, where the mass of the materials is authentic and contemporary, but which is lower or higher, as the surviving records come to us only from one side, or (as in modern history) fairly represent every party, and include all kinds of indirect as well as direct evidence. I need hardly say that the history of ancient India is almost exclusively mythic and legendary,- the ancient Hindus never possessed any true " his- torical sense." Now one merit of the " Hindu period ' of Mr. ELPHINSTONE'S History is, that he endeavours to avoid, as far as possible, all legendary details, and to confine himself to those authentic fragments of information, which can be gathered up from still existing monuments, as those of Asoka, or such in- direct native sources as Manu's Institutes, or the ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIFTH EDITION vii accounts of foreign visitors, as the Greeks. His " Hindu period " almost entirely ignores the gigantic visions of Pauranik mythology : but its four books, though nearly hare of the information which scholars might expect to find, as to the scattered hints which may possibly be extracted from the unhistorical native literature, yet contain a mass of authentic facts, which are just what the general reader requires. Another charm of the book is the spirit of genuine hearty sympathy with and appreciation of the native character which runs through the whole, and the absence of which is one of the main blemishes in Mr. MILL'S eloquent work. The " Mahometan period " is of a very different character. Here we have authentic contemporary records, — we deal with flesh and blood, not shadows ; and Mr. ELPHINSTONE'S History, in its clear dispatch- like narrative, has always seemed to me to possess, in no small degree, some of those characteristics which we all admire in Mr. GROTE'S History of Greece. The author had been so long engaged in Indian politics, that he could at once enter into and unravel all those endless details which render Asiatic history so confused and difficult ; l and I question whether this portion of his History will ever be superseded. For the " Hindu period ' Mr. ELPHINSTONE availed himself of all the sources then at his command ; but the study of Sanskrit is making such continual strides (particularly as regards the Vedas), that we may expect, before many years, to see light thrown on several points which he omits altogether, or leaves obscure. At present, however, our knowledge is in a transition state, — we can more easily see that a given view is erroneous than substitute a better in its place ; and it seems to me that it would be pre- 1 Compare Hallam's complaint, in his Middle Ages, vol. ii. ch. 6. viii ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIFTH EDITION mature, as yet, to rewrite this portion. Ere long the Vaidik literature will have been thoroughly studied and made accessible, — the laws of Manu will have been compared with the older Grihya and other Sutras, which were probably their original source : and the " Hindu period ' will then admit of being treated on a broader plan, and in fuller detail. ELPHINSTONE'S History is now a standard text- ' book in the examinations of the Indian Civil Service at home, and the Universities in India, and a new edition was wanted to meet the present demand. As so much advance has been made of late in Oriental studies generally, and so many new sources of in- formation have been opened since the first edition was published in 1839, it has been deemed advisable . to add a few notes, especially where new facts could be adduced. I have endeavoured to keep them as few and brief as possible; but at the end of the " Hindu period ' I have added a few appendices on some of the more important points omitted by the author, — more especially on the details as to mediaeval * India supplied by the Chinese Buddhist travellers. ' Some account of these last seemed required to complete Mr. ELPHINSTONE'S own plan, — viz., to com- pare the state of the Hindus as described in Manu with their present condition, and to illustrate the changes by "a view of the nation, at a particular point of the transition, from the accounts left to us by the Greeks." I have tried to give, in the Ninth Appendix, a companion picture to that which the author has himself drawn in the Third. I must not conclude without acknowledging, with sincere thanks, the kind assistance which I have re- ceived, in many difficulties, from Mr. EDWARD THOMAS and Dr. FITZEDWARD HALL. E. B. C. LONDON : June 27, 1866. PREFACE THE appearance of a new History of India requires some words of explanation. If the ingenious, original, and elaborate work of Mr. MILL left some room for doubt and discussion, the able compositions since published by Mr. MURRAY and Mr. GLEIG may be supposed to have fully satisfied the demands of every reader. But the excellence of Histories derived from European researches alone does not entirely set aside the utility of similar inquiries conducted under the guidance of impressions received in India ; which, as they rise from a separate source, may sometimes lead to different conclusions. Eew are likely to take up this volume unless they are previously interested in the subject, and such persons may not be unwilling to examine it from a fresh point of view : if the result suggests no new opinions, it may at least assist in deciding on those contested by former writers. In the choice of difficulties presented by the expression of Asiatic words in European letters, I have thought it best to follow the system of Sir W. Jones, which is used by all the English Asiatic Societies, as well as by Mr. Colebrooke, Professor Wilson, and various other writers. But as I do not, in general, attempt to express the aspirates, gutturals, or other sounds which are peculiar to Asiatic languages, I have not found it necessary to copy all the minutiae of Sir W. Jones's orthography, or to distinguish particular con- sonants (as k and c), which in his system would represent very different sounds. IX PREFACE The following list will explain the powers given to each letter : — A' as in far, farther. A as u in sun, study ; o in son, version ; and a itself in unaccented syllables, as in collar, Persian. E' as in there ; or as a in dare. E sometimes as in bell, then ; but much more frequently the indistinct sound of e in her, murderer, etc. I' as in machine, or as ee in deer. I as in hit, imminent. O' as in holy, alone. 0 as in obey, symphony. It is the 6 shortened (the other short o, as in hot, moss, is not known in Asiatic languages). U' as in rude, true ; or as the double o in pool, foolish. U the same sound short, as in pull, fuller. Y as in young, year. W as in war, will. Ei as in height ; or as i in bite. Eu as in Europe, feud. 01 as in boil, joiner. Ou (and au) as in house, sound. The consonants are the same as in English : except that g is always hard, as in God, give ; ch always as in church (not as in Christian, anchor) ; s always as in case, solstice (not like z, as in phrase) ; and t always as in tin, Latin (not like «/>, as in nation). In well-known words T have retained the usual spelling : as in Delhi (for Dilli or Dihli) ; Bombay (for Mumbai) ; Mysore (for Maheswar or Maisur). Where the corrupt names are only applied to particular persons and places, I have limited them in that manner. The famous rivers Indus and Ganges are so called ; while others, bearing the same Indian names, are written Sind and Ganga : the Arabian prophet is Mahomet, but all others of the same Arabic name are Mohammed. Tamerlane is used in speaking of the Tartar conqueror, but Timur on all other occasions. There are other irregularities : gutturals and aspirates are sometimes used, and double consonants are put in some cases where the sound is single, as the double t in Attoc, which is pronounced as in matter ; while, in general, double consonants are sounded separately, as in book-keeping, hop-pole, or drum-maker. In names with which I am not myself acquainted, I am obliged to take the spelling of the author by whom they are mentioned.1 1 [I have corrected the spelling where it was evidently erroneous, as in Paris Ram for Parasu Rama, etc. ; and I have endeavoured (but not always successfully) to make tlie system uniform throughout the History. — ED.] •• CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Boundaries and extent of India — Natural divisions — Hindostan and the Deckan — Natural divisions of Hindostan — Natural divisions of the Deckan — Superficial measurement and population of India — Climate and seasons — Natural productions — Trees — Spices, etc. — Agricultural produce — Animals — Minerals .... HINDUS BOOK I STATE OF THE HINDUS AT THE TIME OF MENU'S CODE Preliminary observations ......... 12 CHAPTER I DIVISION AND EMPLOYMENT OP CLASSES Bramins — Cshatriyas — Veisyas — Sudras — Mixture of classes . . 14 CHAPTER II GOVERNMENT The king — Administration of the government — Revenue — The court — Policy— War 21 CHAPTER III ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE General rules — Criminal law — Civil law — Mode of proceeding — Law of evidence — Mode of proceeding resumed — Debts — Interests of money — Contracts — Sale without ownership — Disputes between master and servant — Disputes about boundaries — Relations between man and wife — Inheritance ..... 28 xi Xll CONTENTS CHAPTER IV RELIGION Monotheism — Religion of Menu — Creation — Inferior deities — Spirits- Man — Ritual observances — Moral effect CHAPTER V MANNERS AND STATE OF CIVILIZATION State of women — Manners — Arts of life — General remarks — Origin of the Hindus and formation of their society — Peculiarities relating to the Bramins .... PAGE 40 49 BOOK II CHANGES SINCE MENU, AND STATE OF THE HINDUS IN LATER TIMES CHAPTER I CHANGES IN CAST I Changes in the four great classes — Mixed classes — Monastic orders . 58 CHAPTER II CHANGES IN THE GOVERNMENT Administration — Revenue divisions — Description of a township — Its privileges — Government of a township by one head — Duties of the headman — Village establishment : the accountant, watch- man, etc. — Government by a village community — Classes of inhabitants — Village landholders — Permanent tenants — Tem- porary tenants — Hired labourers — Shopkeepers, etc. — Probable origin and decline of the village communities — Public land revenue — Property in the soil — Other branches of the king's revenue — Alienations — Lands alienated for military service — Lands for military service among the Rajputs — Lands for services not military — Lands held free of service — Tributary and other depen- dent territories — Zemindars — War — Policy 66 CHAPTER III CHANGES IN THE LAW Changes in the written law — Civil law — Changes in practice — Criminal law — Local laws ..... 89 CHAPTER IV PRESENT STATE OF RELIGION Changes since Menu — The Puranas — Present objects of worship — Siva —Devi or Bhavani — Vishnu and his incarnations — Rama — Crishna — Other gods — Good and bad spirits — Local gods — General character of the Hindu religion — Future state — Moral effects — Sects — Ascendency of the monastic orders — The Baud- dhas or Buddhists — The Jainas or Jains — Comparative antiquity of those religions and that of Brahma ...... 91 CONTENTS xiii CHAPTER V PRESENT STATE OF PHILOSOPHY PAGE Six principal schools — Purpose of knowledge — Means of attaining knowledge — Principles — Constitution of animated corporeal beings — Intellectual creation — General view of the Sankhya doctrine — Separate doctrines of the atheistical and theistical branches — Yogis — God the sole existence — Points of resemblance to Aristotle — General classification according to Gotama's school — Heads or topics — 1st Head : Proof — 2nd Head : Objects of proof ; its subdivisions — 1. Soul — 2. Body — 3. Organs of sense — 4. Objects of sense — 3rd Head : Doubt — Metaphysical opinions — Doctrine of atoms — Resemblance to some of the Greek schools, especially to Pythagoras . . . . . .122 BOOK III STATE OF THE HINDUS IN LATER TIMES— continued CHAPTER I ASTRONOMY AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCE Antiquity of the Hindu astronomy — Its extent — Geometry — Arith- metic— Algebra — Originality of Hindu science . . . . 138 CHAPTER II GEOGRAPHY 145 CHAPTER III CHRONOLOGY Mythological periods — Impossibility of fixing early dates — Solar and lunar races — Kings of Magadha — Chandragupta contemporary with Seleucus — And Asoca with Antiochus — Date of Nanda's reign — Date of the death of Buddha — Probable date of the war of the Maha Bharata — Dates after Chandragupta — Coincidence with the Chinese annals — Obscurity after A.D. 436 — Eras of Vicramaditya and Salivahana . . . . . . .148 CHAPTER IV MEDICINE 158 CHAPTER V LANGUAGE Sanscrit — Other languages of India . . . . . . .160 CHAPTER VI LITERATURE Drama — Sacred poetry — Heroic poems : the " Ramayana " —The " Maha Bharata " — Descriptive — Pastoral — Satire — Tales and fables . . • .... 163 XIV CONTENTS CHAPTER VII THE FINE ARTS CHAPTER VIII OTHER ARTS Weaving — Dyeing — Working in gold . CHAPTER IX AGRICULTURE CHAPTER X COMMERCE External commerce — Trade from the west coast — Coasting trade — Trade from the east coast — Hindu settlements in Java and other eastern islands — Trade in times subsequent to the Greeks — Ex- ports in ancient times — Imports — Inland trade . PAGE 172 179 180 CHAPTER XI MANNERS AND CHARACTER Difference of Indian nations — Villages — Habits of villagers — Towns — Food and manner of eating, of all classes — Indoor amusements — Houses, ceremonial, and conversation of the upper classes — Entertainments and pomp of the rich — Fairs, pilgrimages, etc. — Gardens and natural scenery — Manner of life of the townspeople, and festivals of all classes — Exercises — Dress — Women — Slavery — Ceremonies of marriage — Education — Names — Funerals — Satis — Hereditary thieves — Bhats and Charans — Mountaineers and forest tribes — Character — Comparison of the Hindu character in ancient and modern times 181 186 BOOK IV HISTORY OF THE HINDUS UP TO THE MAHOMETAN INVASION CHAPTER I HISTORY OF THE HINDUS — HINDOSTAN Expedition of Rama — War of the " Maha Bharata " — Magadha — Bengal — Malwa — Vicramaditya — Bhoja — Guzerat — Canouj — Other principalities ....... 223 XV CHAPTER II THE DEC KAN PAGE Early state and divisions of the Deckan — Dravida or Tamil country — Carnata or Canarese country — Telingana or Telugu country — Maharashtra or the Maratta country — Orissa or Urya country — Kingdoms and principalities of the Deckan — Kingdom of Pandya — Chola — Chera — Kerala — Concan — Carnata and Telingana — Belala Rajas — The Yadavas — Chalukyas of Carnata — Chalukyas of Calinga — Kings of Andhra — Orissa — Maharashtra or Maratta country — Tagara — Salivahana — Deogiri ..... 234 APPENDICES TO BOOKS I.— IV APPENDIX I ON THE AGE OF MENU AND OF THE VEDAS Age of the Vedas — Age of the Institutes . ... 245 APPENDIX II ON CHANGES IN CAST Doubts regarding the foreign descent of any of the Rajput tribes — Scythian settlers in India ........ 247 APPENDIX III ON THE GREEK ACCOUNTS OF INDIA India bounded on the west by the River Indus — Indians to the west of the Indus — Description of India — Division into classes — Ascetics — Sudras — Absence of slavery — Number and extent of the dif- ferent states — Manners and customs similar to the present — Favourable opinion entertained by the Greeks of the Indian character ........... 250 APPENDIX IV ON THE GREEK KINGDOM OF BACTRIA Accounts of the Ancients — B.C. 312 — B.C. 250 ..... 262 APPENDIX V NOTES ON THE REVENUE SYSTEM ....... 266 APPENDIX VI AREA AND POPULATION OF INDIA . . . . . . .271 APPENDIX VII ON THE VEDAS AND THE VAIDIK LITERATURE . . . . .271 APPENDIX VIII ON THE BRAHMANICAL TRIBES AND THE ABORIGINES .... 278 APPENDIX IX ON THE CHINESE BUDDHIST PILGRIMS IN INDIA . 281 xvi CONTENTS MAHOMETANS BOOK V FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ARAB CONQUESTS TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A MAHOMETAN GOVERNMENT IN INDIA CHAPTER I ARAB CONQUESTS A.D. 632, A.H. 11— A.D. 753, A.H. 136. PAGE Rise of the Mahometan religion — Conquest of Persia — Sphere con- quered extended to the Indus — First incursion into India, A.D. 664 — Conquest of Sind by the Arabs, A.D. 711, A.H. 92 — Their expulsion — Causes of the slow progress of the Mahometans in India — Tartar nations, A.D. 651, A.H. 31 — Turks in Transoxiana — Arab conquest of Transoxiana, A.D. 706-712, A.H. 87-93 . . 292 CHAPTER II DYNASTIES FORMED AFTER THE BREAKING UP OF THE EMPIRE OF THE CALIFS A.D. 806, A.H. 190— A.D. 995, A.H. 385 The Taherites, A.D. 820-870— The Soffarides, A.D. 872-903— The house of Samani — The Buyades or Deilemites, A.D. 932-1055, A.H. 321-448 — Alptegin, founder of the house of Ghazni — His rebellion — Sabuktegin — Invasion of Jeipal, raja of Lahor — Repelled — Hindu confederacy — Defeated — Sabuktegin assists the Samanis against the eastern Tartars, A.D. 993, A.H. 383 — Death of Sa- buktegin 309 HOUSE OF GHAZNI CHAPTER III SULTAN MAHMUD A.D. 997, A.H. 387— A.D. 1030, A.H. 421 Disputed succession, A.D. 997, A.H. 387 — Mahrmid declares his inde- pendence, A.D. 999, A.H. 389 — His first expedition to India, A.D. 1001, A.H. 391 — Second expedition, A.D. 1004, A.H. 395 — Third expedition, A.D. 1005, A.H. 396 — Invasion of the Tartars under I'lak Khan, A.D. 1006, A.H. 397— Defeated by Mahmiid— Fourth expedition, A.D. 1008, A.H. 399 — Decisive battle — Temple of Nagarc6t — Conquest of Ghor — Fifth expedition to India — Sixth expedition : Capture of Tanesar — Seventh and eighth expeditions — Conquest of Transoxiana, A.D. 1016, A.H. 407 — Ninth expedition to India, A.D. 1017, A.H. 408 — Canouj — Tenth and eleventh ex- peditions, A.D. 1022, A.H. 413; A.D. 1023, A.H. 414 — Permanent occupation of the Pan jab — Twelfth expedition : Somnat, A.D. 1024, A.H. 415 — Mahmud sets up a raja in Guzerat — Distresses in the desert on his return — First revolt of the Seljuks — Sup- pressed, A.D. 1027, A.H. 418 — Conquest of Persia by Mahmud — His death, A.D. 1030, A.H. 421 — His character — Composition of his court and army — Turks — Persians — Relation of the different nations to the government . . . . . .316 CONTENTS xvii CHAPTER IV OTHER KINGS OF THE HOUSES OF GHAZNI AND GHOR A.D. 1030, A.H. 421— A.D. 1215, A.H. 612 PAGE Sultan Mohammed, A.D. 1030, A.H. 421 — Sultan Masaud, A.D. 1030, A.H. 421 — Rise of the Seljuks — Their wars with Massaud, A.D. 1031, A.H. 422, to A.D. 1039, A.H. 432 — Deposition and death of Masaud, A.D. 1040, A.H. 432 — Sultan Maudud, A.D. 1040, A.H. 432, to A.D. 1049, A.H. 441— Sultan Abul Hasan, A.D. 1049, A.H. 441, to A.D. 1051, A.H. 443— Sultan Abul Rashid, A.D. 1051, A.H. 443, to A.D. 1052, A.H. 444 — Sultan Farrukhzad, A.D. 1052, A.H. 444, to A.D. 1058, A.H. 450 — Sultan Ibrahim, A.D. 1058, A.H. 450, to A.D. 1089, A.H. 481 — Sultan Masaud II., A.D. 1098, A.H. 492, to A.D. 1114, A.H. 508 — Sultan Arslan, A.D. 1114, A.H. 508, to A.D. 1118, A.H. 512 — Sultan Behram, A.D. 1118, A.H. 512, to A.D. 1152, A.H. 547 — Ghazni taken by the Ghorians — Re- covered by Behram — Cruel execution of the King of Ghor — Ghazni destroyed by the Ghorians — Sultan Khusrou — House of Ghazni retire to India — Sultan Khusrou Malik — Origin of the house of Ghor — Conquest of Ghazni by the Seljuks, A.D. 1153, A.H. 548 — Fall of the Seljuks— Foundation of the Ma- hometan empire in India — First expedition of Shahab ud din, A.D. 1176, A.H. 572 — Expulsion of the house of Ghazni from the Panjab, A.D. 1184, A.H. 580 — Wars with the Hindus — The Rajputs — Defeat of Shahab ud din — Return of Shahab ud din to India, A.D. 1193, A.H. 589 — Conquest of Ajmir — And of Delhi — Capture of Canouj — Conquest of Oudh, Behar, and Bengal — Unsuccessful invasion of 'Kharizm, A.D. 1203, A.H. 600 — Re- bellions in India — Subdued — Death of Shahab ud din, A.D. 1206, A.H. 602 — Extent of his conquests in India — Dissolution of the Ghorian empire, A.D. 1206, A.H. 602 343 BOOK VI KINGS OF DELHI TO THE ACCESSION OF THE HOUSE OF TIMUR, A.D. 1206 TO 1526 CHAPTER I SLAVE KINGS A.D. 1206, A.H. 603— A.D. 1288, A.H. 687 Independence of India — Progress of a Tiirki slave — Conquests of the Moguls under Chengiz Khan, A.D. 1221, A.H. 618 — King of Kharizm pursued into India — Returns to Persia, A.D. 1223, A.H. 620 — State of Hindostan — Death of Altamish, A.D. 1236, A.H. 633, Shaban 20— Sultana Rezia, A.D. 1236, A.H. 634 — Her virtues — And weakness — Rebellion — The queen defeated and put to death — Mogul irruption into the Panjab — Other Mogul irruptions, A.D. 1244, A.H. 642 — Ghiyas ud din Balban vazir — Removal of Balban — Discontents and intrigues, A.D. 1253, A.H. 651 — Balban. restored — Balban puts down the influence of the slaves — His character — Revolt of Bengal, A.D. 1279, A.H. 678 — Suppressed — Another Mogul irruption — Victory and death of the heir-apparent — Death of Balban, A.D. 1286, A.H. 685 — Intrigues and power of the vazir, Nizam ud din — Massacre of Mogul mercenaries — King's interview with his father — Murder of the vazir — The king de- throned and put to death, A.D. 1288, A.H. 687 . . . 362 xviii CONTENTS CHAPTER II • HOUSE OF KHILJI A.D. 1288, A.H. 687— A.D. 1321, A.H. 721 PAGE Mild government of Jelal ud din — Vigour of Ala ud din, the king's nephew — Ala ud din's invasion of the Deckan, A.D. 1294, A.H. 693 — Submission of Deogiri — Ala ud din's return to Hindostan — Assas- sination of Jelal ud din, July 19, A.D. 1295 ; Ramazan 17, A.H. 695 — Singular instance of credulity and injustice — Expedition to Guzerat, A.D. 1297, A.H. 697 — Mogul incursions — Serious in- vasion by the Moguls — Their defeat at Delhi — Designs of the king's nephew — He attempts to assassinate the king — His failure and death — Other disturbances quelled — Fall of Rintambor, A.D. 1300, A.H. 700 — Capture of Chitor, A.D. 1303, A.H. 703 — Unsuccess- ful invasions of the Moguls, A.D. 1304-5, A.H. 704-5 — Discon- tinuance of their incursions — Expedition to the Deckan, A.D. 1306, A.H. 706 — Story of the Princess Dewal Devi — Failure of an expedition to Telingana, A.D. 1309, A.H. 709 — Conquest of Carnata, and of Maaber, up to Cape Comorin, A.D. 1310, A.H. 710 — Massacre of Mogul converts, A.D. 1311, A.H. 711 — Taking of Deogiri, and conquest of Maharashtra, A.D. 1312, A.H. 712 — Intrigues and influence of Cafur — Revolt of Guzerat — Recovery of Chitor by the Rajputs — Death of Ala ud din, Dec. 19, A.D. 1316 ; Shawwal 6, A.H. 716 — His character — His internal policy — Con- quest of Malabar — Influence of Khusrou, and ascendency of a Hindu party at court, A.D. 1319, A.H. 719 — Murder of Mobarik, and extirpation of his family, March 24, A.D. 1321 ; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 721 . . 376 CHAPTER III HOUSE OF TUGHLAK, SEIADS, AND HOUSE OF LOuf A.D. 1321, A.H. 721 — A.D. 1526, A.H. 933 Failure of an expedition to Telingana, A.D. 1322, A.H. 722 — Conquest of Telingana; capture of Warangal, the capital, A.D. 1323, A.H. 723 — Death of the king, February, A.D. 1325; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 725 — Character of Mohammed Tughlak — Wild schemes of Mohammed — Projected conquest of Persia — Attempt to conquer China — Introduction of paper money — Tyranny and exactions of the king — Rebellions, A.D. 1338, A.H. 739 ; A.D. 1339, A.H. 740 — Permanent revolt of Bengal about A.D. 1340, A.H. 741 ; and of the coast of Coromandel — Restoration of the Hindu kingdoms of Carnata and Telingana, A.D. 1344, A.H. 744 — Other rebellions, A.D. 1345, A.H. 745 ; A.D. 1346, A.H. 746 — Re- bellion of the Mogul troops in Giizerat, A.D. 1347, A.H. 748 — General revolt of the Deckan — Vigour and activity of the king — Death of Mohammed Tughlak, March 20, A.D. 1351; Moharram 21, A.H. 752 — Removal of the capital to Deogiri, and other caprices of Mohammed — Foreign accounts of his court and government — The Mahometan territory in India at its greatest extent in this reign — Independence of Bengal and the Deckan recognized, A.D. 1356, A.H. 757 — The king's infirmities, A.D. 1385, A.H. 787 — Rivalries at his court — His death, Oct. 23, A.D. 1388 ; Ramazan 3, A.H. 790 — His laws — His public works — Dissolution of the mon- archy— Invasion of Tamerlane — Defeat of the Indian army, Dec. 17, A.D. 1398 — Sack, conflagration, and massacre of Delhi — Tamerlane retires from India, March, A.D. 1399, A.H. 801 — His character — Anarchy at Delhi, A.D. 1400, A.H. 802 — Seiad Khizr Khan, A.D. 1414, A.H. 817 — Seiad Mobarick, A.D. 1421, A.H. 824 CONTENTS xix PAOE — Seiad Mohammed. A.D. 1435, A.H. 839 — Seiad Ala ud din, A.D. 1444, A.H. 849 — Rise of the family of Lodi — Panjab re-annexed to Delhi — Recovery of Jounpur, A.D. 1478, A.H. 883 — Good administration of Secander — His bigotry — Discontents and rebellions — Invasion of Baber, A.D. 1524, A.H. 930 — He retreats from Sirhind — Return of Baber, December — Defeat and death of Ibrahim, April 21, A.D. 1526 — Occupation of Delhi and Agra, May 10 . 393 BOOK VII FROM THE CONQUEST OF BABER TO THE ACCESSION OF AKBER HOUSE OF TIMUR CHAPTER I REIGN OF BABER A.D. 1526, A.H. 933— A.D. 1530, A.H. 937 Descent and early life of Baber — His wars and adventures in his youth — He is driven out of Transoxiana — Acquires the kingdom of Cabul — His views on India — Baber 's proceedings after his victory over Ibrahim, A.D. 1526, A.H. 933 — Discontent of his troops — His war with Sanga, rana of Mewar — Battle of Sikri ; victory of Baber, March 16, A.D. 1527; Jamada's Sani 13, A.H. 933 — Settle ment of the country — Siege of Chandori, A.D. 1528, A.H. 934 — Afghan insurrection — Defeat of the king of Bengal, May 1529 — Sickness of Baber — Intrigues regarding the succession — Death of Baber, Dec. 26, A.D. 1530, A.H. 937— His character . . .414 CHAPTER II FIRST REIGN OP HUMAYUN A.D. 1530, A.H. 937— A.D. 1543, A.H. 951 Arrangements of the king's brother — Separation of Cabul from India — Afghan insurrections in India, A.D. 1532, A.H. 939 — Disputes with Bahadur Shah, king of Guzerat, A.D. 1532, A.H. 940 — Invasion and conquest of Guzerat — Expulsion of the Moguls from Guzerat, A.D. 1535-6, A.H. 942 — Early life and rise of Shir Khan Sur— He obtains possession of Behar — And conquers Bengal — Humayun marches against him — Military features of Behar and Bengal — Siege of Chunar — Shir Khan's plan for resisting the invasion — Taking of Gour by Humayun — His difficulties during the rainy season — Active operations of Shir Khan — Retreat of Humayun — Shir Khan assumes the title of king — Intercepts Humayun on his retreat, at Chonsa — Surprises him, and disperses his army, Safar 6, A.H. 946 ; June 26, A.D. 1539 — Second campaign, April, A.D. 1540 ; Zil Caadah, A.H. 946 — Final defeat of Humayun, May 16, A.D. 1540 ; Moharram 10, A.H. 947 — His flight — He arrives at Lahor, July 5, A.D. 1540 ; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 947— Fails in an attempt on Sind, end of Oct., A.D. 1540 ; Jamada'l awwal, A.H. 947 — Seeks refuge in Jodpur ; which is refused — Horrors of his march through the desert — Is hospitably received at Amercot — Birth of Akber — Second attempt on Sind — Hu- mayun consents to retire to Candahar — His dangers in that country — His flight to Persia . . . . . . .431 xx CONTENTS CHAPTER III SHIR SHAH, AND OTHERS OF THE FAMILY OF SUR A.D. 1540, A.H. 947— A.D. 1556, A.H. 964 Shir Shah takes possession of all Humayun's dominions — Recovers Malwa, A.D. 1542, A.H. 949 — Massacres the garrison of Raisin — Invades Marwar, A.D. 1544, A.H. 951 — Takes Chitor — Is killed at Calinjer, May 22, A.D. 1545 ; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 952 — His character — His internal improvements — Selim supplants his elder brother, May 25, A.D. 1545 • Rabi ul awwal 15, A.H. 952— Quells an obstinate rebellion, till A.D. 1547, A.H. 954 — Dies A.D. 1553, A.H. 960 — Account of a fanatical sect — Mohammed A'dil murders his nephew, and usurps the throne, A.D. 1553, A.H. 960 — His vices and incapacity — Hemu, a low Hindu, made prime minister — Vigour and talents of Hemu — Oppressive measures of the king — Rebellions, A.D. 1554, A.H. 961 — Separation of Delhi and the western provinces — Revolt of the Pan jab under Secander SUT — Revolt of Bengal — Revolt of Malwa — Return of Humayun — Success of Hemu — His defeat by Akber, and death — Death of Mohammed A'dil 446 HUMAYUN RESTORED A.D. 1544, A.H. 952— A.D. 1555, A.H. 963 Reception of Humayun in Persia, A.D. 1544 — Account of the Safavis (or Sophis) — Magnificence and hospitality of Shah Tahmasp — His arrogance and caprice — Forces Humayun to profess the Shia religion — Sends an army to restore Humayun — Taking of Candahar, which is ceded to the Persians, but treacherously recovered by Humayun after the departure of the Persian army — Taking of Cabul — Expedition to Badakhshan — Camran re- covers Cabul — Is driven out by Humayun — Gives himself up to Humayun, and is kindly treated — Humayun invades Balkh — Fresh rebellion of Camran — Calamitous retreat from Balkh — Humayun defeated by Camran and deserted by his army— Camran again expelled — Taken, September, A.D. 1553 ; Ramazan, A.H. 961 — And blinded — Humayun marches to recover India — Defeats Secander Sur — Takes Delhi and Agra — His death . . 452 BOOK VIII STATE OF INDIA UP TO THE ACCESSION OF AKBER CHAPTER I HISTORY OF THE INDEPENDENT STATES OF INDIA AFTER THE DISSOLUTION OF THE EMPIRE OF DELHI States formed on the dissolution of the empire under Mohammed Tughlak — Recovery of Telingana and Carnata by the Hindus — Further dismemberment of the empire — Bahmani kingdom of the Deckan, A.D. 1347 until A.D. 1518 — Increased intercourse with the Hindus — Rivalry between the Shia and Sunni sects in the court and army — States formed out of the Bahmani dominions, A.D. 1489-1512 — Bijapur — Ahmednagar — Golconda — Berar — Bidar— Their history— Battle of Talic6ta, Jan. 25, A.D. 1565 ; CONTENTS xxi PAGE Jamada's Sani 20, A.H. 972 — Fall of the kingdom of Bijayanagar — Guzerat — Malwa — Other Mahometan kingdoms — The Rajput states — Change in the condition of the Rajputs after the Mahometan conquests in India — State of the Rajput princes at the accession of Akber — Mewar — Marwar — Bikanir — Jesalmer — Amber or Jeipur — Harauti — Petty states in the desert — Petty states on the east of the tableland — Other unsubdued tracts . 463 CHAPTER II INTERNAL STATE OF INDIA Internal state of the Mahometan empire — The king's power — His ministers — Provinces — Army — Law — Church — Moulavis — Fakirs — Superstitions — Sects — Hindus — Conversions — Re- venue— Condition of the people — State of the country — Towns and commerce — Coinage — Architecture — Manners — Mahometan literature — Language . . . . . . . .471 BOOK IX AKBEH CHAPTER I FROM A.D. 1556, A.H. 963, TO A.D. 1586, A.H. 995 Accession of Akber, A.D. 1556, A.H. 963 — Bairam Khan — Loss of Cabul — Defeat and death of Hemu, Nov. 5, A.D. 1556 ; Moharram 2, A.H. 964 — Recovery of Delhi and Agra — Campaign in the Pan jab — Submission of Secander Sur — Arbitrary government of Bairam Khan — General discontent at court — Akber assumes the government — Perplexity of Bairam — He revolts, September, A.D. 1650; Moharram, A.H. 968 — His submission and pardon — His death — Difficult situation of the young king — His plan for restoring and consolidating the empire — Extent of his territory — Insubordination and rebellions of his officers, A.D. 1560, A.H. 968, to A.D. 1564, A.H. 972 — Quelled after a desultory struggle — Affairs of Cabul — Nominal government of Prince Hakim, Akber's brother — Hakim invades the Pan jab — Revolt of the Mirzas — They fly to Guzerat — Miscellaneous occurrences — Foreign affairs —The Rajputs — Conquest of Guzerat, September, A.D. 1572 ; Jamada'l awwal, A.H. 980 — Conquest of Bengal, A.D. 1576, A.H. 984 — State of that province — Mutiny of the troops in Bengal and Behar, A.D. 1579, A.H. 987 — Insurrection of the Afghans in Bengal —Final settlement of the province after fifteen years of disturb- ance— Revolt of Prince Hakim, February, A.D. 1581 ; Moharram, A.H. 989 — Reduction of Cabul — Insurrection in Guzerat, A.D. 1581, A.H. 989 484 CHAPTER II FROM 1586 TO THE DEATH OF AKBER Akber interferes in the disputes of the Deckan — Akber moves to Attok on the Indus — Conquest of Cashmir, A.D. 1586, A.H. 994 — Wars with the north-eastern Afghans — Description of those tribes and of their country — Sect of the Rosheniyas — Destruction of the in- vading army by the Yusufzeis, January, A.D. 1586 ; Safar, A.H. 994 XX11 CONTENTS — Conquest of Sind, A.D. 1592, A. H. 1000 — Recovery of Candahar, A.D. 1594, A.H. 1003 — Complete settlement of Hindostan — Ex- pedition to the Deckan, about November, A.D. 1595 ; about the end of Rabi ul 'Akhir, A.H. 1004 — Chand Sultana — Her defence of Ahmednagar — Peace agreed on, Rajab, A.H. 1004 ; about February, A.D. 1596 — War renewed and extended to the whole of the Deckan, December, A.D. 1596, or January 1597 — Akber goes in person to the Deckan — Death of Chand Sultana — Taking of Ahmednagar, about July, A.D. 1600 ; Safar, A.H. 1009 — Conquest of Khandesh — Akber returns to Hindostan, spring of A.D. 1601 ; end of A.H. 1009 — Refractory conduct of his eldest son, Selim, about November, A.D. 1600; Shaban, A.H. 1009 — Murder of Abul Fazl, A.D. 1602, A.H. 1011 — Reconciliation of Akber with Selim, A.D. 1603, A.H. 1012 — Continued misconduct of Selim — He is placed under restraint, and soon after released — His quarrels with his own son, Khusrou — Death of Daniyal, Akber' s third son — Sickness of Akber — Intrigues regarding the succession — Unsuccessful combination to set aside Selim — Death of Akber, October 13, A.D. 1603, A.H. 1014 — His character 502 CHAPTER III AKBER'S INTERNAL POLICY Akber's internal policy, religious and civil — His general toleration am impartiality — Progress of his religious opinions — Feizi — His translations from the Sanscrit — He superintends translations from that and other languages — Abul Fazl — Akber's attachment to those brothers — Akber's religious and philosophical conferences — Religious system of Akber — His discouragement of the Ma- hometan peculiarities — His restrictions on the Hindu superstition — His general indulgence to Hindus — Discontents among the Mussulmans — Limited progress of his own religion — His civil government — Revenue system — Todar Mai — Subahs, or govern- ments, and their establishments, military, judicial, and police — Reform and new model of the army — Fortifications and public works — Household and court .... 520 BOOK X JEHANGIR— SHAH JEHAN CHAPTER I JEHANGIR A.D. 1605, A.H. 1014— A.D. 1627, A.H. 1307 State of India at the accession of Jehangir, October, A.D. 1605 ; Ja mada'l Akhir, A.H. 1014 — Moderate measures at the commence- ment of his reign — Flight of Prince Khusrou, March, A.D. 1606 ; Zi Haj 8, A.H. 1014 — His rebellion — Quashed — Barbarous punishment of the rebels — Imprisonment of Khusrou — Wars in Mewarand in the Deckan, A.D. 1607, A.H. 1016 — Insurrection of a pretended Khusrou, A.D. 1607 to 1610,A.H. 1017 to 1019 — 111 success of the war in the Deckan — Malik Amber — He recovers Ahmed- nagar— Marriage of the emperor with Nur Jehan, A.D. 1611, A.H. CONTENTS xxiii PAGK 1020 — Her history — Her influence — Combined attack on Ahmed- nagar — Defeated by Malik Amber, A.D. 1612, A.H. 1021 — War with Mewar — Victories and moderation of Shah Jehan (Prince Khur- ram) — The rana submits on honourable terms, A.D. 1614, A.H. 1023 — Influence of Shah Jehan — Supported by Niir Jehan — Insurrection in Cabul quelled — Embassy of Sir T. Roe — His account of the empire, court, and character of Jehangir — Prince Khusrou — Unpopularity of Shah Jehan — Prince Parviz — Shah Jehan declared heir-apparent — Sent to settle the Deckan — The emperor moves to Mandu, October, A.D. 1616 ; Zi Kada, A.H. 1025 — Sir T. Roe's description of his march — Complete success of Shah Jehan, March, A.D. 1617 ; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 1026 — Residence of the emperor and Shah Jehan in Guzerat — Renewal of the disturbances in the Deckan, A.D. 1621. A.H. 1030 — Shah Jehan marches to quell them — His success in the field — Ho comes to terms with Malik Amber — Dangerous illness of the emperor — Measures of Parviz and Shah Jehan, about September, A.D. 1621, A.H. 1030 — Suspicious death of Khusrou — Alienation of the empress from Shah Jehan — Candahar taken by the Per- sians, A.D. 1621, A.H. 1031 — Shah Jehan ordered to retake it — His reluctance to leave India — The enterprise committed to Prince Shehriyar, to whom most of Shah Jehan's troops are transferred — Mohabat Khan called to court by the empress — Increased distrust between the emperor and Shah Jehan — Re- bellion of Shah Jehan — Advance of the emperor, February, A.D. 1623 ; A.H. 1032 — Retreat of Shah Jehan — Its consequences — Shah Jehan retreats into Telingana — Makes his way to Bengal, A.D. 1624, A.H. 1033 — Obtains possession of Bengal and Behar — He is pursued by Prince Parviz and Mohabat Khan — Is defeated, and flies to the Deckan — State of the Deckan — Shah Jehan unites with Malik Amber — Pressed by Parviz and Mohabat Khan —Deserted by his army — Offers his submission to the emperor, A.D. 1625, A.H. 1034 — The emperor marches against the Ro- sheniyas in Cabul — Persecution of Mohabat Khan by the em- press— His history — He is summoned to court — Brutal treatment of his son-in-law by the emperor — Mohabat seizes on the em- peror's person, March, A.D. 1626; Jemada' 2, A.H. 1035 — Spirited condiict of Niir Jehan — She attacks Mohabat's camp — Is repulsed with heavy loss — She joins the emperor in his con- finement— Insecurity of Mohabat's power — Artifices of the emperor — Quarrel between the Rajputs and the king's troops — Plots and preparations of Nur Jehan — Rescue of Jehangir — Terms granted to Mohabat Khan — He is sent against Shah Jehan — He breaks with the emperor, and joins Shah Jehan — Sickness and death of Jehangir, October 28, A.D. 1627 ; Safar 28, A.H. 1037 538 CHAPTER II SHAH JEHAN, TILL 1657 A'saf Khan takes part with Shah Jehan — Imprisons the empress — Defeats Shehriyar, who is put to death — Shah Jehan arrives from the Deckan, and is proclaimed at Agra, Jan. 26, A.D. 1628 ; Jamada'l A'khir 7, A.H. 1037 — Local disturbances — History of Khan Jehan Lodi — His flight from Agra — His proceedings in the Deckan — The emperor marches against him, October, A.D. 1629 ; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 1039 — State of the Deckan — Khan Jehan driven out of Ahmednagar — Pursued by Azam Khan — Fails in obtaining an asylum at Bijapur — His ally, the king of Ahmed- nagar, defeated — Khan Jehan flies from the Deckan — Is cut off in xxiv CONTENTS Bundelcand — His death, A.D. 1630, A.H. 1040 — Continuance of the war with Ahmednagar — Famine and pestilence in the Deckan — The king of Bijapur joins the king of Ahmednagar — Murder of the king of Ahmednagar by his minister Fath Khan, who submits to Shah Jehan — War with Bijapur continues — Tergiversation of Fath Khan — Siege of Bijapur — Failure of the siege — The em- peror returns to Delhi, March, A.D. 1632 ; Ramazan, A.H. 1041— 111 success of the operations in the Deckan, A.D. 1634 — Shahji B6sla attempts to restore the king of Ahmednagar — The emperor returns to the Deckan, November, A.D. 1635 ; Jamada'l awwal, A.H. 1045 — Failure of another attempt on Bijapur — Peace with Bijapur, A.D. 1636, A.H. 1046 — Submission of Shahji Bosla — The emperor extracts a tribute from Golconda — Returns to Delhi, A.D. 1637, A.H. 1046 — Local disturbances and successes inHindostan — Recovery of Candahar, A.D. 1637, A.H. 1047 — Ali Merdan Khan — Invasion of Balkh — Services of the Rajputs in the mountains of Hindu Cush — Shah Jehan moves to Cabul, A.D. 1645, A.H. 1055 — Balkh reduced by Prince Morad and Ali Merdan Khan — Overrun by the Uzbeks from beyond the Oxus, July, A.D. 1646 ; Jamada'l A'khir, A.H. 1056 — Aurangzib sent against them, A.D. 1647, A.H. 1057 — Is besieged in Balkh — Shah Jehan abandons his conquest — Disastrous retreat of Aurangzib, about the end of A.D. 1647, A.H. 1057 — Candahar retaken by the Persians, A.D. 1648, A.H. 1058 — Aurangzib sent to recover it, Jamada'l awwal, A.H. 1059 — Fails in the siege of Candahar, about September, A.D. 1649 ; Rama- zan, A.H. 1059 — Second attempt on Candahar under Aurangzib, A.D. 1659, A.H. 1061 — Its failure — Great expedition under Prince Dara Shukoh, A.D. 1653, A.H. 1063 — Siege of Candahar, Septem- ber, A.D. 1653 ; Shawwal 9, A.H. 1063 — Failure and retreat of Dara Shukoh, November, A.D. 1653 ; Moharram, A.H. 1064 — Death of the vazir, Saad Ullah Khan — Renewal of the war in the Deckan, under Aurangzib — Intrigues of Aurangzib at Golconda — Mir Jumla — Treacherous attack on Heiderabad by Aurangzib, January, A.D. 1656 ; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 1066 — Submission of the king of Golconda, May, A.D. 1656 ; A.H. 1066 — Unprovoked war with Bijapur, March, A.D. 1657 ; A.H. 1067 .... 561 CHAPTER III FROM 1657 TO THE DEPOSAL OF SHAH JEHAN Dangerous illness of the emperor — Characters and pretensions of his sons — Dara Shukoh — Shuja — Aurangzib — Morad — Daughters of Shah Jehan — Dara administers the government under the em- peror, October, A.D. 1657 ; Zi Haj 7, A.H. 1067 — Rebellion of Shuja — And of Morad — Cautious measures of Aurangzib — His collusion with Mir Jumla — He marches to join Morad — Defensive measures of Dara — Shah Jehan reassumes the government, November, A.D. 1657 ; Rabi ul awwal 4, A.H. 1068 — Shuja con- tinues to advance on Agra — Is defeated by Soleiman, son of Dara, and returns to Bengal — Aurangzib and Morad defeat the imperial army under Jeswant Sing at Ujein — Shah Jehan's anxiety for an accommodation — Dara marches from Agra to oppose his brothers, against the wish of Shah Jehan — Is totally defeated, beginning of June. A.D. 1658 — Dara flies to Delhi — Aurangzib enters Agra, June, A.D. 1658 ; Ramazan 10, A.H. 1068— Shah Jehan adheres to the cause of Dara — Is confined in his palace, Ramazan 17 — Aurangzib imprisons Morad, and openly assumes the government — High prosperity of India under Shah Jehan — Magnificence of Shah Jehan— His buildings— The Taj Mahal — His economy — His personal character 576 CONTENTS xxv BOOK XI AURANGZIB (OR ALAMGIR) CHAPTER I FROM 1658 TO 1662 PAGE Soleiman deserted by Jei Sing and Dilir Khan — Flies to Sirinagar, and is made prisoner by the raja — Aurangzib marches from Delhi in pursuit of Dara, July 28, A.D. 1658 ; Zi Caadah 7, A.H. 1068— Dara flies from Lahor — Aurangzib returns to Delhi, A.D. 1658, A.H. 1069 — Marches against Shuja. who is advancing from Bengal, January 3, A.D. 1659 ; Rabi Second 17, A.H. 1069 — Treacherous attack on his baggage by Jeswant Sing — Defeat of Shuja — Jeswant Sing threatens Agra, and flies to Marwar — Dara Shukoh appears in Guzerat, and is acknowledged in that province — He sets out to join Jeswant Sing — Jeswant Sing is won over by Aurangzib, February 14, A.D. 1659 ; Jamada'l awwal 1. A.H. 1069 — Abandons Dara — Dara is attacked and defeated by Aurangzib — Disasters of his flight to Guzerat — He is met by Bernier — Ahmedabad shuts its gates on him — He flies towards Sind — He is betrayed by the chief of Juii, and delivered up to Aurangzib — He is brought to Delhi, July 26, A.D. 1659 ; Zi Caadah 15, A.H. 1069 — Sympathy of the people — He is put to death — Operations against Shuja by Prince Sultan and Mir Jumla — Prince Sultan goes over to Shuja, June, A.D. 1659 ; Ramazan, A.H. 1069 — Returns to his allegiance, January 27, A.D. 1660 ; Jamada's Sani 6, A.H. 1070 — And is imprisoned by his father — Shuja flies to Aracan, April or May, A.D. 1660 : Shaban or Ramazan, A.H. 1070 — Uncertainty regarding his fate — Soleiman given up by the raja of Sirinagar, January 3, A.D. 1661 ; Jamada'l awwal 11, A.H. 1071 — Morad murdered in his prison — Expedition of Mir Jumla to Assam, March 12, A.D. 1662 ; Shaban 6, A.H. 1072, to January 6, A.D. 1663 ; Jamada's Sani 6, A.H. 1073 — Death of Mir Jumla, March 31, A.D. 1663 ; Ramazan 2, A.H. 1073 — Dangerous illness of Aurangzib — Intrigues and agitation — Firmness and self-possession of Aurangzib — His re- covery, December 6, A.D. 1662 — Disturbances in the Deckan — Description of the Maratta country — Account of the nation — Rise of the Bosla family — Shahji Bosla — Sivaji Bosla — His robberies — His adherents — He surprises a hill-fort, A.D. 1646 — He usurps his father's jagir — Obtains possession of several forts, A.D. 1647 — Revolts against the government of Bijapur, A.D. 1648 — Takes possession of the northern Concan — His attachment to the Hindu religion — The government of Bijapur seize Shahji as a hostage for his son, A.D. 1649 — Shahji released, A.D. 1653 — Renewal of Sivaji's encroachments — Plunders the Mogul pro- vinces— Obtains forgiveness from Aurangzib, A.D. 1658 — Afzal Khan sent against him from Bijapur — Is assassinated by Sivaji, and his army dispersed, October, A.D. 1659 — Another army sent from Bijapur, May, A.D. 1660 — The king of Bijapur takes the field, January, A.D. 1661 — Recovers most of Sivaji's conquests, A.D. 1662 — Sivaji makes a very favourable peace — Extent of his territory, A.D. 1662 589 xxvi CONTENTS FROM 1662 TO 1681 PAGE Sivaji's rupture with the Moguls, about the end of A.D. 1662, A.H. 1073 — Shayista Khan marches against him — Occupies Puna — Night exploit of Sivaji — Prince Moazzim sent against him — Sivaji plunders Surat, January 5, A.D. 1664 ; Jamada's Sani 15, A.H. 1074 — Death of Shahji — His possessions in the south of India — Maritime exploits of Sivaji, February, A.D. 1665 — Sivaji assumes sovereignty — Raja Jei Sing sent against him — Submission of Sivaji, A.D. 1665 — He co-operates with Jei Sing against Bijapur — Goes to Delhi — Haughty reception by Aurangzib — Sivaji escapes from confinement — Arrives at Raighar, December, A.D. 1666 — Death of Shah Jehan, December, A.D. 1666 ; Rajab, A.H. 1076 — Prosperous state of Aurangzib's empire — Failure of Jei Sing's attack on Bijapur — His death — Return of Prince Moazzim and Jeswant Sing, A.D. 1667, A.H. 1077 — Progress of Sivaji — He makes peace with the emperor — Levies tribute on Bijapur and Golconda — His internal arrangements, A.D. 1668 and 1669, A.H. 1078 and 1079 — Schemes of Aurangzib to entrap Sivaji, A.D. 1670, A.H. 1080 — Aurangzib breaks the peace — Sivaji surprises Singhar — Ravages the Mogul territory, December, A.D. 1670 ; A.H. 1081 — Chout — Defeats the Moguls in a field-action, A.D. 1672, A.H. 1082 — Khan Jehan made viceroy of the Deckan — Suspension of active operations in the Deckan — Aurangzib occupied by a war with the north-eastern Afghans, from January, A.D. 1673, to October, A.D. 1675 ; Ramazan, A.H. 1083, to Jamada's Sani, A.H. 1086, or thereabouts — Aurangzib returns to Delhi — Insurrec- tion of the Satnarami religionists — Aurangzib's bigotry — His vexatious treatment of the Hindus — He revives the jizya, or poll-tax, on infidels — General disaffection of the Hindus, A.D. 1677, A.H. 1088 — Oppressive measures against the widow and children of Raja Jeswant Sing — They escape from Delhi — Com- bination of the Rajputs — The emperor marches against them, January, A.D. 1679 ; Zi Haj, A.H. 1089 — Grants favourable terms to the rana of Mewar — The rana breaks the peace, July, A.D. 1680 ; Rajab, A.H. 1090 — Devastation of the Rajput territory — Permanent alienation of the Rajputs — Prince Akber joins the Rajputs with his army — Is proclaimed emperor — Marches against Aurangzib — Dangerous situation of the emperor — His presence of mind — Defection of Akber' s army — Akber flies to the Marattas, June 1, A.D. 1681 — Protracted war with the Rajputs 609 CHAPTER III PROM 1672 TO 1698 Affairs of the Deckan resumed — Sivaji's conquest from Bijapur — Is crowned at Raighar with additional solemnity — Makes an incur- sion into the Mogul territory, and first crosses the Nerbadda — Sivaji's expedition to the south of India, towards the end of A.D. 1676 — He takes Jinji and Vellor, and recovers all his father's jagir in Mysore — The Moguls, under Dilir Khan, invade Golconda, — Lay siege to Bijapur, A.D. 1679 — Sivaji's son, Sambaji, deserts to the Moguls — He returns to his father — Siege of Bijapur raised —Death of Sivaji — His character — Unsuccessful attempt to set aside Sambaji — He is acknowledged raja — Sambaji's cruelty — His obstinacy in besieging Jinjera — Joined by Prince Akber — Plots against his authority — Executions — Gives himself up to a fav- ourite, Calusha — Fails at Jinjera — Decline of his affairs in the Deckan — Aurangzib arrives in the Deckan, A.D, 1683 — His views CONTENTS xxvii PAGE — His first operations, A.D. 1684 — Destruction of Prince Moazzim's army in the Concan — Invasion of Bijapur, A.D. 1685 — Sambaji ravages the country in the emperor's rear — Failure of the in- vasion of Bijapur, A.D. 1686 — Sambaji plunders Baroch — Aurangzib invades Golconda — Makes peace with the king — Aurangzib, in person, moves against Bijapur — Takes the capital and destroys the monarchy, Oct. 15, A.D. 1686 — Aurangzib breaks the peace with Golconda — Takes the capital and subverts the monarchy, September, A.D. 1687 — Imprisons Prince Moazzim — Effects of these conquests — Disordered state of the Deckan — Aurangzib takes possession of Bijapur and Golconda, as far as Tanjore, A.D. 1688 — Inactivity of Sambaji — Prince Akber goes to Persia — Sambaji made prisoner — Put to death, August, A.D. 1689 —Weakness of the Marattas — Aurangzib sends a detachment to besiege Raighar — Regency of Raja Ram — Raighar taken, A.D. 1690 — Raja Ram escapes to Jinji — Is proclaimed raja — System of defence adopted by the Marattas — Zulfikar Khan sent to reduce Jinji, 1691 — Marattas renew the war by desultory operations under independent leaders, A.D. 1692 — Comparison of the Mogul and Maratta armies — Siege of Jinji committed to Prince Cam- bakhsh, A.D. 1694 — Disgust of Zulfikar — He obstructs the siege — Santaji Gorpara advances to raise the siege, A.D. 1697 — Cam- bakhsh placed under restraint by Zulfikar — Retreat of the be- siegers— Aurangzib cantons on the Bima — Releases Cambakhsh —Increased disaffection of Zulfikar — He renews the siege, but protracts the operation, A.D. 1697 — Resentment of the emperor —Jinji taken, A.D. 1698 628 CHAPTER IV FROM 1698 TO THE DEATH OF AURANGZIB Dissensions among the Marattas — Murder of Santaji Gorpara — Raja Ram takes the field in person — New plan of Aurangzib : a besieging and pursuing army — Exhaustion of the Moguls — Sieges by the emperor in person — Takes Sattara, April, A.D. 1700 — Death of Raja Ram — Aurangzib goes on taking forts — Spirit and perseverance of Aurangzib — Difficulties and hardships to which he was exposed — His indefatigable industry — His attention to details — His distrust of all around him — His management of his sons and courtiers — Increased disorder of the state — Successes of the Marattas — They begin to recover their forts — Exhausted state of the army — Disorder of the finances — Grand army hard pressed by the Marattas — Retreats to Ahmednagar — Declining health of the emperor — His fears of encountering the fate of Shah Jehan — His suspicions of his sons — His alarms at the approach of death — His death and character — His letters — Miscellaneous transactions BOOK XII SUCCESSORS OF AURANGZIB CHAPTER I TO THE ACCESSION OF MOHAMMED SHAH A.D. 1707, A.H. 1119— A.D. 1719, A.H. 1131 Contest between Prince Azam and his elder brother, Prince Moazzim — Victory of Moazzim, henceforward Bahadur Shah, June, A.D. xxviii CONTENTS I' AGE 1707 ; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 1119 — Revolt of Prince Cambakhsh in the Deckan — His defeat and death, February, A.D. 1708 ; Zi Caad, A.H. 1119 — Bahadur's proceedings in the Deckan — State of the Marattas — Factions of Raja Saho and Tara Bai — Baud Khan Panni left in charge of the Deckan for Zulfikar Khan- Makes a truce with the Marattas — Transactions with the Rajputs —Peace with that power, A.D. 1709, A.H. 1121 — Rise of the Sikhs — Peaceful character of their sect — Persecuted by the Mahome- tans— Their revolt — Guru Govind — He forms the Sikhs into a religious and military commonwealth — Their doctrines and manners — They are overpowered at first — Their fanaticism — Their successes, ravages, and cruelties under Banda — Bahadur marches against them — They are driven into the hills — Escape of Banda — Death of Bahadur Shah, February, A.D. 1712 ; Mo- harram, A.H. 1124 — Contest between his sons — Artifices of Zulfikar Khan — He secures the victory to Jehandar Shah, May or June, A.D. 1712; Jamada'l awwal, A.H. 1124 — Accession of Jehandar Shah — His incapacity — Arrogance of Zulfikar Khan — General discontent — Revolt of Prince Farokhsir in Bengal — He is supported by Abdullah and Hosein Ali, governors of Behar and Allahabad — Defeats the imperial army, January 1, A.D. 1713 ; Zil Haj 15, A.H. 1124 — Zulfikar betrays Jehandar Shah to the enemy, but is put to death along with the emperor, February 4, A.D. 1713; Moharram 17, A.H. 1125 — Great power of Seiads Abdullah and Hosein Ali — Jealousy of the emperor — His intrigues — Hosein Ali sent against Ajit Sing, raja of Marwar — Makes an honourable peace — Increased distrust — Submission of the em- peror— Hosein Ali marches to settle the Deckan, December, A.D. 1715 ; Zi Haj, A.H. 1127 — Farokhsir instigates Daud Khan Panni to resist him — Defeat and death of Daud Khan, A.D. 1716, A.H. 1129 — Renewed devastations of the Sikhs — They are defeated and nearly extirpated — Cruel execution of Banda — Progress of the Marattas — Chin Kilich Khan (afterwards A'saf Jah) — 111 success of Hosein Ali — He makes peace with Raja Saho, and submits to pay the chout, A.D. 1717 — Farokhsir refuses to ratify the treaty — State of the court of Delhi — Abdullah Khan — Plots of Farokhsir — Combination of great nobles to support him — His levity and irresolution — Disgusts his confederates — Return of Hosein Ali, accompanied by 10,000 Marattas, December, A.D. 1718 ; Moharram, A.H. 1131 — Farokhsir deposed and put to death, February, A.D. 1719; Rabi us Sani, A.H. 1131 — Nominal emperors set up by the Seiads : Rafi ud Darajat, February, A.D. 1719 ; Rabi us Sani, A.H. 1131 : Rafi ud Doula, May, A.D. 1719; Rajab, A.H. 1131: Mohammed Shah, September, A.D. 1719; Zi Caada, A.H. 1131 . . 659 CHAPTER II TO THE DEPARTURE OF NADIR SHAH A.D. 1719, A.H. 1131— A.D. 1739, A.H. 1153 General indignation against the Seiads, September, A.D. 1719; Zi Caada, A.H. 1131 — Internal dissensions of their party — Insurrec- tions— Proceedings of A'saf Jah — He establishes his power in the Deckan, April, A.D. 1720 ; Jamada's Sani, A.H. 1132 — Defeats the armies of the Seiads, June and July, A.D. 1720 — Alarm at Delhi — Prudent conduct of Mohammed Shah — His plans against the Seiads — Mohammed Amin Khan — Sadat Khan — Hosein Ali marches against A'saf Jah, accompanied by the emperor — Assassination of Hosein Ali, October, A.D. 1720 ; Zi Haj 6, A.H. CONTENTS xxix PAGE 1132 — The emperor assumes the government — Difficult situation of Abdullah Khan — He sets up a new emperor — Assembles an army, November, A.D. 1720; Moharram, A.H. 1133 — Is defeated and taken prisoner, November or December, A.D. 1720 ; Safar, A.H. 1133 — Sudden death of Mohammed Amin, the new vazir, January, A.D. 1721 ; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 1133 — Rapid decline of themonarchy, A.D. 1721, A.H. 1133 — A'saf Jah vazir, January, A.D. 1722 ; Rabi us Sani, A.H. 1134 — Indolence of the emperor — His favourites — His dislike to A'saf Jah — A'saf Jah sent against the refractory governor of Guzerat — Quells the insurrection, and retains the government of the province — Expedition against the Jats of Bhartpur — Disgust of A'saf Jah — He resigns his office, and sets off for the Deckan, October, A.D. 1723 ; Moharram, A.H. 1136 — The emperor instigates Mobariz Khan, governor of Heiderabad, to supplant him — Mobariz defeated and slain, October, A.D. 1724; Moharram, A.H. 1137 — A'saf Jah's policy towards the Marattas — Consolidation of the Maratta government — Balaji Wiswanath peshwa — Establishes the government of Saho — Dies — His complicated revenue system — His motives — Baji Rao peshwa — His enterprising policy — Character of Saho and of Baji Rao — Baji Rao ravages Malwa — Obtains a cession by the governor of the chout of Guzerat, A.D. 1725, A.H. 1138 — A'saf Jah foments the dissensions of the Marattas — He is at- tacked, and compelled to make concessions, A.D. 1727, A.H. 1140 — Accommodation, between Saho and his rival Samba, A.D. 1730, A.H. 1142 — Renewed intrigues of A'saf Jah — Dabari, a great Maratta chief in Guzerat — Marches to depose the peshwa — Is anticipated by Baji Rao, defeated and killed, April, A.D. 1731 ; Shawwal, A.H. 1143 — Moderation of Baji Rao in settling Guzerat — Origin of the families of Puar, Holcar, and Sindia — Compromise between Baji Rao and A'saf Jah — Raja Abhi Sing of Marwar, viceroy of Guzerat — Procures the assassination of Pilaji Geikwar — Retaliation of the Marattas — Abhi Sing retires to Marwar — Successes of Baji Rao in Malwa — Obtains possessions in Bundelcand — Raja Jei Sing II., viceroy of Malwa — His tacit surrender of the province to the Marattas, A.D. 1734 — Baji Rao increases his demands, A.D. 1736 — Further cessions by the emperor — Alarm of A'saf Jah — He is reconciled to the emperor — Baji Rao appears before Delhi, A.D. 1737, A.H. 1149 — He re- treats, A.D. 1737, A.H. 1150 — Arrival of A'saf Jah at Delhi — Marches against Baji Rao — Is attacked by Baji Rao, near Bopal, January, A.D. 1738 — And constrained to make great ces- sions on the emperor's part, February, A.D. 1738 ; Ramazan, A.H. 1150 — Invasion of Nadir Shah — Previous transactions in Persia — Western Afghans — Ghiljeis — Abdalis (or Durranis) — Revolt of the Ghiljeis — Conquest of Persia by the Ghiljeis — Their tyrannical government — Their wars with the Turks and Russians — Rise of Nadir Shah — He drives out the Ghiljeis, and recovers Khorasan from the Abdalis — Renewed invasion of the Abdalis — Nadir takes Herat, and gains the attachment of the Abdalis — He deposes Tahmasp Shah — Is himself elected king — He suppresses the Shia zeligion — Invades the Ghiljeis — Takes Candahar — His conciliatory policy — His difference with the government of India, May, A.D. 1738 ; Safar, A.H. 1151 — Supineness of the court of Delhi, October, A.D. 1738; Shaban, A.H. 1151 — Nadir invades India, November, A.D. 1738; Ramazan, A.H. 1151 — Defeats Mohammed Shah, February 13, A.D. 1739 ; Zi Caada 15, A.H. 1151 — Advances to Delhi, March, A.D. 1739; Zi Haj, A.H. 1151— Insurrection of the inhabitants — General massacre by the Per- sians— Nadir's extortions — His rapacity and violence — He prepares to return — The country west of the Indus ceded to him —Mohammed Shah restored — -Amount of the treasures carried off by Nadir Shah . 675 xxx CONTENTS CHAPTER III TO THE DEATH OF MOHAMMED SHAH A.D. 1739, A.H. 1151— A.D. 1748, A.H. 1161 PAGE Deplorable condition of the capital and of the empire — Internal dissen- sions— Proceedings of the Marattas — Baji Rao resumes offensive operations — Attacks A'saf Jah's possessions, A.D. 1740, A.H. 1153 —Is repulsed by A'saf's son, Nasir Jang — Perplexed affairs of Baji Rao — His death, April 28, A.D. 1740 ; Safar, A.H. 1153 — His sons — Wars in the Concan before Baji Rao's death — With A'ngria —With the Abyssinians of Jinjera — With the Portuguese — Balaji Rao — Domestic enemies of Baji Rao — The pirti nidhi — Raghuji Bosla — Damaji Geikwar — Their intrigues to prevent Balaji succeeding to the office of peshwa — Success of Balaji, August, A.D. 1740 — Balaji marches into Malwa — Revives his father's demands on the court of Delhi — Invasion of Bengal by Raghuji Bosla — The emperor purchases the aid of Balaji by the formal cession of Malwa — Balaji defeats and drives out Raghuji, A.D. 1743, A.H. 1156 — Fresh combinations against the peshwa — He buys over Raghuji by liberal cessions, A.D. 1744, A.H. 1157 — Raghuji again invades Bengal — His general murdered by the viceroy, A.D. 1745, A.H. 1158 — He ultimately obtains the chout of Bengal and a cession of Cattac — Affairs of A'saf Jah — Revolt of Nasir Jang — A'saf Jah returns to the Deckan — His death, June, A.D. 1748 ; Jamada's Sani, A.H. 1161 — Death of Sahc? Raja, about December, A.D. 1749 — Intrigues and contests for the suc- cession— Boldness and address of Balaji — Alleged abdication of Saho in favour of Balaji — Balaji takes possession of the govern- ment, A.D. 1750 — Marches against Salabat Jang, the son of A'saf Jah — He is recalled by the insurrection of Tara Bai and Damaji Geikwar — Balaji seizes Damaji by treachery — Salabat Jang advances on Puna — Superiority of the invaders, M. Bussy, November, A.D. 1751 — Balaji is saved by a mutiny of Salabat's army, A.D. 1752 — An armistice concluded — Transactions at Delhi resumed — Rise of the Rohillas — The emperor marches against them, A.D. 1745, A.H. 1156 — Fresh invasion from the side of Persia — Revolutions in that country — Tyranny of Nadir Shah — His fears of the Shias — He puts out the eyes of his son — His intolerable cruelties — His favour to the Afghans — He is assas- sinated by the Persians, June, A.D. 1747 ; Jamada's Sani, A.H. 1160 — Retreat of the Afghans — Ahmed Khan Abdali — Ahmed crowned king at Candahar, October, 1747 — Changes the name of Abdalis to Durranis — His skilful management of his unruly subjects — His views on India — He occupies the Panjab — He is repulsed by an Indian army under Prince Ahmed, the heir- apparent, March, A.D. 1748; Rabi ul awwal 26, A.H. 1161 —Death of Mohammed Shah, April, A.D. 1748 ; Rabi us Sani 26, A.H. 1161 . . 702 CHAPTER IV TO THE EXTINCTION OF THE MOGUL EMPIRE A.D. 1748, A.H. 1161— A.D. 1761, A.H. 1174 Internal arrangements of the new king, A.D. 1748, A.H. 1161 — Attempt to subdue the Rohillas by Safder Jang, the vazir, December, A.D. 1748; Zi Haj, A.H. 1161 — The vazir marches against them in person, and is defeated, A.D. 1750, A.H. 1183 — He calls in the Marattas, A.D. 1751, A.H. 1164 — Who compel the Rohillas to CONTENTS xxxi PAGE submit — Defeat of the imperial troops in Marwar — Second in- vasion of Ahmed Shah Durrani — Cession of the Pan jab — Discon- tent of Safder Jang, the vazir — He assassinates the emperor's favourite — Ghazi ud din the younger — Resists the vazir — Calls in the Marattas and expels the vazir — The emperor plots against Ghazi ud din — Is defeated and deposed, July, A.D. 1754 ; Shaban, A.H. 1167 — Ghazi ud din, vazir, September, A.D. 1754; Zi Haj, A.H. 1167 — His violent government — His life in danger in a mutiny — His suspicions of the emperor — His treacherous seizure of Ahmed Shah Durrani's governor of the Panjab, A.D. 1756, A.H. 1170-1 — Third invasion of Ahmed Shah — He takes Delhi — Massacres and exactions — His return to his own dominions, about June, A.D. 1757 ; Shawwal, A.H. 1171 — His arrangements for the protection of A'lamgir II. against Ghazi ud din — Najib ud doula, minister — Ghazi ud din applies for the assistance of the Marattas — Previous transactions of that nation — Ragoba, the peshwa's brother, marches to support Ghazi ud din the younger — Takes Delhi — Escape of the heir-apparent and of Najib ud doula — Ragoba takes possession of the Panjab, May, A.D. 1758 ; Shaban, A.H. 1171 — Plans of the Marattas for the conquest of Hindostan — General combination of the Mahometan princes — The Marattas invade Rohilcand, November, A.D. 1759 ; Jamada'l awwal, A.H. 1173 — Fourth invasion of Ahmed Shah, September, A.D. 1759 ; Moharram, A.H. 1173 — Murder of A'lamgir II. by Ghazi ud din, November, A.D. 1759 ; Rabi us Sani 8, A.H. 1173 — The Maratta troops in Hindostan dispersed by Ahmed Shah — Power of the Marattas at its zenith — Their army — Great preparations for the contest in Hindostan — Arrogance of the commander Sedasheo Bhao — He takes Delhi — Ahmed Shah's negotiation with Shuja ud doula — Who joins the Mahometan confederacy, July, A.D. 1760 ; Zi Haj, A.H. 1173 — Ahmed Shah marches against Sedasheo Bhao — His bold passage of the Jumna, October 25, A.D. 1760 — Marattas retire to Panipat, and intrench their camp — Their numbers — Force under Ahmed Shah — Protracted operations — Failure of the Maratta supplies — Battle of Panipat, January 6, A.D. 1761 ; Jamada's Sani, A.H. 1174 — Destruction of the Maratta army — Despondency of the Maratta nation — Death of the peshwa —Dissolution of the Mahometan confederacy — Extinction of the Mogul empire . . . . . . . . . .717 APPENDIX ON THE STATES FORMED ON THE DISSOLUTION OF THE EMPIRE OF DELHI Bahmani kings of the Deckan — Founded by Hasan Gangu, an Afghan of Delhi — Wars with the Hindus, A.D. 1461, A.H. 865 — Conquest of Rajamandri and Masulipatam, A.D. 1477, A.H. 882 — Partial conquest of the Concan, from A.D. 1469 to 1471, A.H. 874 to 876 —Dynasty of A'dil Shah at Bijapiir — Extent of the kingdom — Attempt to introduce the Shia religion — Religious factions — Rise of the Marattas — Wars with the other Mahometan kings — League against Bijayanagar — Wars with the Portuguese, A.D. 1595, A.H. 1004 — Dynasty of Nizam Shah at Ahmednagar — Religious fac- tions, A.D. 1537, A.H. 944 ; A.D. 1568, A.H. 976 ; A.D. 1588, A.H. 997 — Wars with the other kings of the Deckan — Miscellaneous facts — Extent of the kingdom — Dynasty of Kutb Shah at Gol- conda — Kuli profeses the Shia religion — Extent of his kingdom — Conquest from the Hindus — Wars with the other Mahometan kings — Ibrahim, the fourth king — His wars — Conquests on the coast of Coromandel — Dynasty of Imad Shah in Berar — Dynasty xxxii CONTENTS PAGE of Barid Shah at Bidar — Description of Guzerat — Original extent of the kingdom — Founded by Mozaffer, the son of a Rajput convert, A.D. 1391, A.H. 791-2 — His wars, A.D. 1391, A.H. 793 — His occupation and subsequent evacuation of Malwa, A.D. 1407-8, A.H. 810-1 — Ahmed Shah, A.D. 1411, A.H. 814 — His wars with Malwa and his Hindu neighbours, A.D. 1422, A.H. 825, and with other Mahometan kings, A.D. 1416, A.H. 819 ; A.D. 1429, A.H. 833 — Mohammed Shah, A.D. 1449, A.H. 853 — Kutb Shah, A.D. 1451, A.H. 855 — His wars with Mewar, A.D. 1457, A.H. 861 — Daud Khan, A.D. 1459, A.H. 863 — Mahmud Begara, A.D. 1459 to A.D. 1511— His vigorous government — He rescues the Bahmani king of the Deckan, A.D. 1462, A.H. 866 — Marches to the Indus — Takes Girnar and Champanir — His wars with Mahometan kings, A.D. 1507, A.H. 913 ; A.D. 1499, A.H. 905 — His maritime power, A.D. 1482, A.H. 887 ; A.D. 1494, A.H. 900 — He co-operates with the Mamluks of Egypt in a naval war with the Portuguese, A.D. 1508, A.H. 913 — Mozaffer II., A.D. 1511, A.H. 917 — Generosity to the king of Malwa — War with Sanga, rana of Mewar — Bahadur — Takes part in the wars of the Deckan — His supremacy acknow- ledged by the kings of Khandesh, Berar, and Ahmednagar — Conquest of Malwa, and its annexation to Guzerat, February, A.D. 1531 ; Shaban, A.H. 937 — Troubles in Malwa — War with Mewar, A.D. 1532, A.H. 938 — War with Humayun, and expulsion of Bahadur, A.D. 1533, A.H. 940 — Bahadur recovers his kingdom — Disputes with the Portuguese at Dili — Interview with the Portuguese viceroy — Death of Bahadur, A.D. 1537, A.H. 943 — Miran Mohammed Shah — Mahmud III., A.D. 1538, A.H. 944 — Ahmed II., A.D. 1561, A.H. 969 — Mozaffer III. — Guzerat con- quered by Akber, A.D. 1572, A.H. 980 — Malwa — Wars in Hindo- stan and the Deckan — Mahmud IT., A.D. 1512, A.H. 916 — Ascend- ency of Medni Rai, a Hindu chief — Mahmud flies to Guzerat, A.D. 1517, A.H. 923 — Is restored by Bahadur Shah, A.D. 1519, A.H. 924 — Is defeated, taken prisoner^ and released by Sanga, rana of Mewar — His ingratitude, A.D. 1525, A.H. 932 — He is defeated, and his kingdom annexed to Guzerat, A.D. 1531, A.H. 937 — Prosperity of Khandesh — Conquered by Akber, A.D. 1599, A.H. 1008 — Bengal — Jounpur — Sind — Multan — State of the other parts of India . . . . . . . . . . 735 THE PEDIGREE OF THE HOUSE OF TIMUR . . 750 INDEX MAPS SKETCH MAP OF ANCIENT INDIA . . . Facing p. 1 INDIA IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ... „ 734 MAP OF INDIA At the end. Sketch Map of ;010R ANCIENT [NDIA. to illustrate the JSarly Chapters of JEUPHINSTOTvTE * S HISTORY or INDIA JMiles [To face p. 1. HISTORY OF INDIA INTRODUCTION Boundaries and extent of India — Natural divisions — Hindostan and the Deckan — Natural divisions of Hindostan — Natural divisions of the Deckan — Superficial measurement and population of India — Climate and seasons — Natural productions — Trees — Spices, etc. — Agricultural produce — Animals — Minerals. INDIA is bounded by the Himalaya mountains, the river Indus, and the sea. Its length from Cashmir to Cape Comorin is about 1900 British miles ; and its breadth from the mouth of the Indus to the mountains east of the Brahmaputra considerably upwards of 1500 British miles. It is crossed from east to west by a chain of mountains, called those of Vindhya, which extends between the twenty- third and twenty-fifth parallels of latitude, nearly from the desert north-west of Guzerat to the Ganges. The country to the north of this chain is now called Hindo- stan, and that to the south of it, the Deckan.1 Hindostan is composed of the basin of the Indus, that of the Ganges, the desert towards the Indus, and the high tract recently called Central India.2 1 The Mogul emperors fixed the 2 [" Hindustan proper, contradis- Nerbadda for the limit of their pro- tinguished from the southern penin- vinces in those two great divisions, sula and eastern India (Dakshin and but the division of the nations is made Purb), is the same with the Madhya by the Vindhya mountains. It is Desa or central region : see Manu, ii. well remarked by Sir W. Jones and 21." (Colebrooke, Trans. As. Soc. i. Major Rennell, that both banks of 133.) Col. Tod (ibid.) defines it as rivers in Asia are generally inhabited lying between the Himalaya and by the same community. The rule Nerbadda, N. and S. ; its eastern applies to Europe, and is as true of limit a line in the meridian of the the Rhine or the Po as of the Ganges source of that river at Amarakantak, and the Nile. Rivers are precise and passing through Prayag and meeting convenient limits for artificial divi- the great northern chain ; on the W., sioris, but they are no great obstacles towards the Indus, it comprehends to communication ; and, to form a all the tracts within the limits of natural separation between nations, cultivation. — ED.] requires the real obstructions of a mountain chain. B 2 NATURAL DIVISIONS The upper part of the basin of the Indus (now called the Pan jab) is open and fertile to the east of the Hydaspes, but rugged to the west of that river, and sandy towards the junction of the five rivers. After the Indus forms one stream, it flows through a plain between mountains and the desert, of which only the part within reach of its waters is productive. As it approaches the sea, it divides into several branches, and forms a fertile though ill-cultivated delta. The basin of the Ganges (though many of the streams which water it have their rise in hilly countries, and though the central part is not free from diversity of surface) may be said on the whole to be one vast and fertile plain. This tract was the residence of the people who first figure in the history of India ; and it is still the most advanced in civilization of all the divisions of that country. A chain of hills, known in the neighbourhood by the name of Aravalli, is connected by lower ranges with the western extremity of the Vindhya mountains on the borders of Guzerat, and stretches up to a considerable distance beyond Ajmir, in the direction of Delhi ; forming the division between the desert on the west and the central table-land. It would be more correct to say the level of the desert ; for the south- eastern portion, including Jodpur, is a fertile country. Except this tract, all between the Aravalli mountains and the Indus, from the Satlaj or Hysudrus on the north to near the sea on the south, is a waste of sand, in which are oases of different size and fertility, the greatest of which is round Jessalmir. The narrow tract of Cach intervenes between the desert and the sea, and makes a sort of bridge from Guzerat to Sind. Central India is the smallest of these four natural divisions. It is a table-land of uneven surface, from 1500 to 2500 feet above the sea, bounded by the Aravalli mountains on the west, and those of Vindhya on the south ; supported on the east by a lower range in Bundelcand, and sloping gradually on the north-east into the basin of the Ganges. It is a diversified but fertile tract. The Vindhya mountains form the southern limit of Hindo- stan ; but beyond them, separated by the deep valley of the Nerbadda, is a parallel chain called Injadri or Satpura, which must be crossed before we reach the next natural division in the valley of the Tapti. This small tract is low ; but the rest of the Deckan is almost entirely occupied by a table-land of triangular form, about the level of that of Central India, supported on all sides by ranges of hills. The two longest ranges, which run towards the south, follow the form of the peninsula, and between them and the sea lies a low INTBOD. narrow tract, forming a sort of belt round the whole coast. The hills which support the table-land are called the Ghats. The range to the west is the highest and most marked ; and the low tract beneath it narrowest and most rugged. The table-land itself is greatly diversified in surface and fertility. Two parts, however, are strongly distinguished, and the limit between them may be marked by the Warda, from its source in the Injadri range, north-west of Nagpur, to its junction with the Godaveri, and then by the joint rivers to the sea. All to the north and east of these rivers is a vast forest spotted with villages, and sometimes interrupted by cultivated tracts of considerable extent. To the south-west of the rivers, the country, though varied, is generally open and cultivated. Guzerat and Bengal are regarded by the natives as neither included in Hindostan nor the Deckan ; they differ greatly from each other, but each has a resemblance to the part of Hindostan which adjoins it. Though the Deckan, properly speaking, includes all to the south of the Vindhya mountains, yet, in modern practice, it is often limited to the part between that chain and the river Kishna. The superficial extent of India is estimated at 1,287,483 square miles. The population may be taken at 140,000,000 ; but this is the present population ; in very early Hindu times it was certainly much less, and in later days probably much greater.3 3 These estimates cannot pre- tend to accuracy. Hamilton (De- scription of Hindostan, i. 37) con- jectured the number of square miles to be 1,280,000, and the population 134,000,000. An official report laid before the Bengal Lower provinces Bengal Upper provinces Bengal cessions from Berar Madras Bombay Total Bengal Committee of the House of Commons on Indian affairs, October 11, 1831, will (if certain blanks be filled up) make the extent in square miles 1,287,483, and the population 140,722,700. The following are the particulars : — Square miles. Population. . 153,802 37,500,000 66,510 32,200,000 85,700 (1) 3,200,000 306,012 141,923 64,938 Total British possessions . 512,873 Allied States 614,610 Ran jit Sing possessions in the Pan jab (4) 60,000 Sind 100,000 Total of all India The superficial extent of the British territories and those of the . 1,287,483 72,900,000 13,500,000 (-2) 6,800,000 93,200,000 (3) 43,022,700 3,500,000 1,000,000 140,722,700 allies is given in the above Report ; tho former from actual survey, and CLIMATE The population is very unequally distributed. In one very extensive district of Bengal proper (Bardwan) it was ascer- tained to be 600 souls to the square mile.4 In some forest tracts, 10 to the square mile might be an exaggeration. Though the number of large towns and cities in India is remarkable, none of them are very populous. In their present state of decline, none exceed the population of second-rate cities in Europe. Calcutta, without its suburbs, has only 265,000 inhabitants ; and not more than two or three of the others can have above 200,000 fixed population.5 A tract, extending from 8° north latitude to 35°, and varying in height from the level of the sea to the summits of Himalaya, must naturally include the extremes of heat and cold ; but on the general level of India within the great northern chain, the diversity is comparatively inconsiderable. the latter partly from survey and partly from computation. The population of the British territories is also from the Report, and is founded on official estimates, except in the following instances, where I computed the numbers. (1) The cessions from Berar amount to near 86,000 square miles ; of these, 30,000 on the Nerbadda are comparatively well peopled ; and I have allowed them 60 souls to the square mile. The remaining 56,000 are so full of forests, that I have only allowed 25 souls to the square mile. (2) For one district, under Bom- bay (the Northern Concan), the ex- tent is given from survey, but without a guess at the population. I have allowed the same rate as that of the adjoining district (the Southern Con- can), which is 100 to the square mile. It is probably too much, but the amount is so small as to make the error immaterial. (3) No estimate is given of the population of the allied states, some parts of which have 300 or 400 souls to the square mile, while others are nearly deserts. On consideration, I allow 70 souls to the square mile, which makes the population 43,022,700. (4) The area and population of Sind and the population of the Panj ab are taken from Burnes's Travels, ii. 286, and iii. 227. The extent of the Panjab is little more than a guess, which I have hazarded rather than leave the statement incomplete. The extent of Europe is about 2,793,000 square miles, the popula- tion 227,700,000. ("Companion to the Almanack for 1829," from Walkenaer and Balbi. ) If we deduct the 1,758,700 square miles in Russia, Sweden, and Norway, as proposed by Major Rennell, for the sake of com- parison, we find the rest of Europe containing 1,035,300 square miles, and India 1,294,602, being nearly a third greater than Europe. But Europe, when freed from the nor- thern wastes, has the advantage in population ; for, after deducting Russia, Sweden, and Norway, about 60,518,000 souls, Europe has still 167,182,000 souls, and India only 140,000,000. [See App. VI.] 4 Mr. Bayley, Asiatic Researches, xii. 549. 5 For Calcutta see the Report of the House of Commons, October 11, 1831. For Benares, see Asiatic Researches, xvii. 474, 479, where it is stated that 200,000 constitutes the fixed population of the city and suburbs, and that 100,000 more may come in on the greatest occasions of pilgrimage. [According to the census of May, 1850, the population of Calcutta was as follows (Thornton's Gazetteer) : — Europeans . . 6,233 Eurasians . . 4,615 Americans . . 892 Chinese . . 847 Asiatics . . 15,342 Hindus . . 274,335 Mahometans . 110,918 413,182 But these numbers are by no means trustworthy. — ED. ] INTROD. THE RAINY SEASON 5 The characteristic of the climate, compared with that of Europe, is heat. In a great part of the country the sun is scorching for three months in the year ; 6 even the wind is hot, the land is brown and parched, dust flies in whirlwinds, all brooks become dry, small rivers scarcely keep up a stream, and the largest are reduced to comparatively narrow channels in the midst of vast sandy beds. In winter, slight frost sometimes takes place for an hour or two about sunrise ; but this is only in the parts of the country which lie far north, or are much elevated above the sea. At a low level, if towards the south, the greatest cold in winter is only moderate heat ; and on an average of the whole of India, it is not much more than what is marked temperate on our thermometers ; while the hottest time of the day, even at that period, rises above our summer heat. The cold, however, is much greater to the feelings than would be supposed from the thermometer. In the months which approach to neither extreme, the temperature is higher than in the heat of summer in Italy. The next peculiarity in the climate of India is the periodical rainy season. The rains are brought from the Indian Ocean by a south-west wind (or monsoon, as it is called), which lasts from June to October. They are heaviest near the sea, espe- cially in low countries, unless in situations protected by mountains. The coast of Coromandel, for instance, is sheltered from the south-west monsoon by the Ghats and the table- land, and receives its supply of rain in October and November, when the wind blows from the north-east across the Bay of Bengal. The intenseness of the fall of rain can scarcely be conceived in Europe. Though it is confined to four months, and in them many days of every month, and many hours of every day, are fair, yet the whole fall of rain in India is considerably more than double that which is distributed over the whole twelve months in England. The variations that have been mentioned divide the year into three seasons : the hot, the rainy, and the cold — or rather temperate — which last is a good deal longer than either of the other two. The fertile soil and rich productions of India have long been proverbial. Its forests contain many timber- trees, among which the teak is, for shipbuilding, and most other purposes, at least equal to the oak. The sal is a lofty and useful timber- tree : sandal, ebony, and other rare and beautiful woods are found 8 The thermometer often rises days. It has been known to reach above 100° during part of the hottest 120°. 6 TREES in different quantities, but often in profusion. Banyan- trees, cotton-trees,7 sissoo (or blackwood- trees), mangoes, tamarinds, and other ornamental and useful trees are scattered over the cultivated country. The babul (Mimosa Arabica, or gum- arabic tree), with its sweet-scented yellow flower, grows in profusion, both in the woods and plains, as do two kinds of acacia and various other flowering trees. Mulberries are planted in great numbers, and are the means of furnishing a large supply of silk. The cocoa, palmyra, and other plants are common. The first of these yields a nut filled with a milky fluid, and lined writh a thick coating of kernel, which is ser- viceable as food, and on account of the oil which is manu- factured from it to a vast extent. The shell is used for cups and other vessels, some of which are in universal use. The thick husk, in which the nut is enveloped, is composed of fibres, which form a valuable cordage, and make the best sort of cable. The wood, though not capable of being employed in carpenter's work, is peculiarly adapted to pipes for conveying water, beams for broad but light wooden bridges, and other purposes, where length is more required than solidity. The bamboo, being hollow, light, and strong, is almost as generally useful : when entire, the varieties in its size make it equally fit for the lance of the soldier, the pole of his tent, or the mast which sustains the ensign of his chief ; for the ordinary staff of the peasant, or for the rafter of his cottage. All scaffolding in India is composed of bamboos, kept together by ropes instead of nails. When split, its long and flexible fibre adapts it to baskets, mats, and innumerable other purposes ; and when cut across at the joints, it forms a bottle often used for oil, milk, and spirits. The wood of the palm is employed in the same manner as that of the cocoa-tree : its leaves also are used for the thatch, and even for the walls of cottages : while the sap, which it yields on incision (as well as that of the bastard date-tree), supplies a great proportion of the spirituous liquor consumed in India. The mahua (a timber-tree of the size of an oak, which abounds in all the forests) produces a fleshy flower, from which also a great deal of spirit is distilled ; while it is still more important as an article of food among the hill tribes. To return to the palms, another beautiful specimen bears a nut, which, mixed with the pungent and aromatic leaf of the bitel- 7 This is not the low shrub which pods, in which the seeds are encased bears common cotton, but a lofty tree in a substance resembling cotton, covered at one time with flowers of but lighter and more silky in its tex- glowing crimson, and at another with ture. INTROD. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE 7 vine, and the gum called catechu, is chewed by all classes throughout India. Sago is the produce of another kind of palm. The mountains of Himalaya present a totally different vegetation. Pines, oaks, and other forest trees of Europe and Asia, rhododendrons, and many other magnificent shrubs abound throughout the chain, often on a gigantic scale. Pepper and cardamums grow in abundance on the western coast, and cinnamon in Ceylon : capsicum, ginger, cummin, coriander, turmeric, and various other spices are everywhere a common produce of the fields. We are indebted to India for many well-known aromatics, and the wildest hills are covered with a highly scented grass, the essential oil of which is supposed by some to have been the spikenard of the ancients. Many trees supply medicines — as camphor, cassia, fistularis, aloes, etc. ; others yield useful resins, gums, and varnishes. The woods are filled with trees and creepers, bearing flowers of every form and hue ; while the oleander, Gloriosa superba, and many other beautiful shrubs grow wild in the open country. The lotus and water-lily float on the surface of the lakes and ponds ; and there are many sweet-scented flowers, the perfume of which, though otherwise exquisite, is in general too powerful for Europeans. Whole plains are covered with cotton, tobacco, and poppies for opium ; even roses are grown, in some places, over fields of great extent, for atar and rose-water. Sugar-cane, though still more abundant, requires rich and well- watered spots, and is not spread over the face of the country like the pro- ductions just mentioned. Large tracts of land are given up to indigo, and many other more brilliant dyes are among the produce of the fields. Flax, mustard, sesamum, palma Christi, and other plants yield an ample supply of oil, both for culinary and other purposes. The principal food of the people of Hindostan is wheat, and in the Deckan jowar and bajra : 8 rice, as a general article of subsistence, is confined to Bengal and part of Behar, with the low country along the sea all round the coast of the Peninsula : in most parts of India it is only used as a luxury.9 In the 8 Jowar (Holcus sorgum). It a coarse sort in Italy, called melica grows on a reedy stem to the height rossa, or sorgo rosso, of 8 or 10 feet, and bears irregularly- Bajra (Holcus spicatus) resembles shaped clusters of innumerable round a bulrush, the head being covered grains, about twice as big as mustard with a round grain, smaller, sweeter, seed. It is common all over the and more nourishing than that of Levant, vmder the name of durra (or jowar. dourrah) ; and in Greece, where it 9 It was probably the circtim- is called kalamboki ; there is likewise stance of our early settlements in 8 FRUIT southern part of the table-land of the Deckan the body of the people live on a small and poor grain called ragi.10 Though these grains each afford the principal supply to particular divisions, they are not confined to their own tracts. Bajra and jowar are almost as much consumed as wheat in Hindostan, and are grown, though in a less degree, in the rice-countries ; wheat is not uncommon in the Deckan, and is sown in the rice-countries ; rice is more or less raised all over India in favourable situations, as under hills, or where a great command of water is obtained by artificial means. Barley is little eaten, and oats till lately were unknown ; but there are several smaller sorts of grain, such as millet, Panicum Italicum, and other kinds for which we have no name. Maize is a good deal grown for the straw ; and the heads, when young and tender, are toasted and eaten as a delicacy by the villagers ; but I doubt if the grain is ever made into bread. There are many kinds of pulse, of which there is a very great consumption by people of all ranks ; and a variety of roots and vegetables,11 which, with a large addition of the common spices, form the ordinary messes used by the poor to give a relish to their bread. Many fruits are accessible to the poor ; especially mangoes, melons, and water-melons, of which the last two are grown in the wide beds of the rivers during the dry weather. Gourds and cucumbers are most abundant. They are sown round the huts of the poor, and trailed over the roofs, so that the whole building is covered with green leaves and large yellow flowers. The mango, | which is the best of the Indian fruits, is likewise by mud the most common, the tree which bears it being everywhere planted in orchards and singly, and thriving without anf further care. Plantains or bananas, guavas, custard-apples, jujubes, and other fruits of tropical climates are also common.12 Grapes are plentiful as a garden-fruit, but not planted for wine. Oranges, limes, and citrons are also in general use, and some sorts are excellent. Figs are not quite so general, but are to be had in most places, and in some (as at Puna, Bengal and on the coast of Coro- wild and cultivated, known or un- mandel that led to the common known in Europe, opinion that rice is the general food 12 One of the most remarkable, of India. and in some places the most common, 10 Cynosurus corocanus. is the jack, an exceedingly rich and 11 As the egg-plant or brinjal, the luscious fruit, which grows to the love-apple or tomato, yams, sweet weight of sixty or seventy pounds, potatoes, carrots, radishes, onions, directly from the trunk of a tall forest garlic, spinach, and many other sorts, tree. INTROD. ANIMALS 9 in the Deckan) they are perhaps the best in the world. Pine- apples are common everywhere, and grow wild in Pegu.13 Horses, camels, and working-cattle are fed on pulse.14 Their forage is chiefly wheat-straw ; and that of the jowar and bajra, which, being full of saccharine matter, is very nourishing. Horses get fresh grass dried in the sun ; but it is only in par- ticular places that hay is stacked. There are in some places three harvests ; in all two. Bajra jowar, rice, and some other grains are sown at the beginning of the rains and reaped at the end. Wheat, barley, and some other sorts of grain and pulse ripen during the winter, and are cut in spring. Elephants, rhinoceroses, bears, and wild buffaloes are confined to the forests. Tigers, leopards, panthers, and some other wild beasts are found there also, but likewise inhabit patches of underwood, and eVen of high grain, in the culti- vated lands. This is also the case with wild boars, hyenas, wolves, jackals, and game of all descriptions, in the utmost abundance. Lions are only found in particular tracts. Great numbers of many sorts of deer and antelopes are met with in all parts. Monkeys are numerous in the woods, in the cultivated country, and even in towns. Porcupines, ich- neumons, a species of armadillo, iguanas, and other lizards are found in all places ; as are serpents and other reptiles, noxious or innocent, in abundance. There are horses in plenty, but they are only used for riding. For every sort of draught (ploughs, carts, guns, native chariots, etc.), and for carriage of all sorts of baggage and merchandise, almost the whole dependence is on oxen. The frequency of rugged passes in some parts, and the annual destruction of the roads by the rains in others, make the use of pack-cattle much greater than that of draught-cattle, and produce those innumerable droves which so often choke up the travellers' way, as they are transporting grain, salt, and other articles of commerce from one province to another. Camels, which travel faster, and can carry more bulky loads, are much employed by the rich, and are numerous in armies. Elephants are also used, and are indispensable for 13 Several Chinese fruits have channa, of which each pod contains lately been introduced with success, a single pea on a low plant, from the and some European ones, of which leaves of which the natives make the peach and strawberry are the only vinegar. It is the Cicer arietinum kinds that are completely naturalized. of botanists, and exactly the Cece of The apples are small and bad ; and Italy. In the Deckan the pulse used pears, plums, etc., do not succeed is culti, a small hard pea, which must at all. be boiled before it is eaten, even by 14 In Hindostan it is a sort called animals. 10 BIRDS carrying large tents, heavy carpets, and other articles which cannot be divided. Buffaloes are very numerous, but they are chiefly kept for milk, of which great quantities (in various preparations) are consumed : 15 they are not unfrequently put in carts, are used for ploughing in deep and wet soils, and more rarely for carriage. Sheep are as common as in European countries, and goats more so. Swine are kept by the lowest casts ; poultry are comparatively scarce, in small villages at least, from the prejudice of the Hindus against fowls ; but the common fowl is found wild in great numbers, and resembles the bantam kind. The peacock also is common in a wild state. White cranes and egrettes are extremely numerous throughout the year ; and grey cranes, wild geese, snipes, ortolans, and other birds of passage come in incredible numbers at their season. Eagles are found in some places, as are various kinds of falcons. Vultures are very common, and kites beyond number. Most English birds are common (except singing-birds) ; besides parrots, or rather paroquets, and various birds of splendid plumage, for which we have not even names. Fish is abundant, and is a great article of food in Bengal, and some other countries. Crocodiles are often seen both in rivers and large ponds. None of the minerals of India have attracted attention except diamonds and iron. The steel of India was in request with the ancients : * it is celebrated in the oldest Persian poem, and is still the material of the scimitars of Khorasan and Damascus. The inferior stones — opals, amethysts, gar- nets, chrysolites, beryls, cornelians, agates, etc., are found in considerable quantities. Most of the pearls in the world, and all the best, are taken up from beds near Ceylon. Rock salt is found in a range of mountains in the Pan jab ; and salt is made in large quantities from the water of the Samber Lake in Ajmir, and from that of the sea. Saltpetre is so abundant as to supply many other countries. The conformation of the countries and the peculiarities of climate and season have great effect on military operations in India. The passes through the chains of hills that intersect the country regulate the direction of the roads, and often fix the fields of battle. Campaigns are generally suspended during the rains, and resumed at the end of that season, when grain and forage are abundant. The site of encampments 15 The commonest of these are known, and butter never used in its clarified butter (ghi) and a sort of natural state. acid curd (dahi), which is called yourt * It is mentioned in the Talmud in the Levant. Cheese is scarcely (AvodahZarah)as"parzelaHinduah." INTROD. RAINS 11 is very greatly affected by the supply of water, which must be easy of access to the thousands of cattle which accompany every army, chiefly for carriage. One party is often able to force his enemy into action by occupying the water at which he intended to halt. A failure of the periodical rains brings on all the horrors of famine. HINDUS BOOK I STATE OF THE HINDUS AT THE TIME OF MENU'S CODE Preliminary Observations. As the rudest nations are seldom destitute of some account of the transactions of their ancestors, it is a natural subject of surprise that the Hindus should have attained to a high pitch of civilization without any work that at all approaches to the character of a history.1 The fragments which remain of the records of their trans- actions are so mixed with fable, and so distorted by a fictitious and extravagant system of chronology, as to render it hope- less to deduce from them any continued thread of authentic narrative. No date of a public event can be fixed before the invasion of Alexander ; and no connected relation of the national transactions can be attempted until after the Mahometan conquest.2 But notwithstanding this remarkable failure in the annals of the early Hindus, there is no want of information regarding their laws, manners, and religion ; which it would have been the most useful object of an account of their proceedings to teach ; and if we can ascertain their condition at a remote period, and mark the changes that have since taken place, we shall lose very little of the essential part of their history. A view of the religion of the Hindus is given, and some light is thrown on their attainments in science and philosophy, 1 The history of Cashmir scarcely forms an exception. Though it refers to earlier writings of the same nature, it was begun more than a century after the Mahometan conquest of Cashmir ; even if it were ancient, it is the work of a small sequestered territory on the utmost borders of India, which, by the accounts con- tained in the history itself, seems to have been long liable to be affected by foreign manners ; and the example seems never to have been followed by the rest of the Hindus. 2 [It is most important for the reader to bear this sentence in mind, during the whole of the " Hindu period." It is only at those points when other nations came into contact with the Hindus, that we are able to settle any details accurately. — ED.] 12 I MENU'S CODE 13 by the Vedas, a collection of ancient hymns and prayers which are supposed to have been reduced to their present form in the fourteenth century before the Christian era ; but the first complete picture of the state of society is afforded by the code of laws which bears the name of Menu, and which was probably drawn up in the ninth century before Christ.3 With that code, every history of the Hindus must begin. But to gain accurate notions even of the people contemporary with the supposed Menu, we must remember that a code is never the work of a single age, some of the earliest and rudest laws being preserved and incorporated with the improve- ments of the most enlightened times. To take a familiar example, there are many of the laws in Blackstone the existence of which proves a high state of refinement in the nation ; but those relating to witchcraft and the wager of battle afford no corresponding proof of the continuance of barbarism down to the age in which the Commentaries were written. Even if the whole code referred to one period it would not show the real state of manners. Its injunctions are drawn from the model to which it is wished to raise the community, and its prohibitions from the worst state of crime which it was possible to apprehend. It is to the general spirit of the code, therefore, that we must look for that of the age ; and even then we must soften the features before we reach the actual condition of the people. I have adhered to the usual phraseology in speaking of this compilation ; but, though early adopted as an unquestionable authority for the law, I should scarcely venture to regard it as a code drawn up for the regulation of a particular state under the sanction of a government. It seems rather to be the work of a learned man, designed to set forth his idea of a perfect commonwealth under Hindu institutions. On this supposition it would show the state of society as correctly as a legal code ; since it is evident that it incorporates the existing laws, and any altera- tions it may have introduced, with a view to bring them up to its preconceived standard of perfection, must still have been drawn from the opinions which prevailed when it was written. These considerations being premised, I shall now give an outline of the information contained in Menu ; and, after- wards, a description of the Hindus as they are to be seen in present times. The alterations effected during the interval will appear 3 See Appendix I. " On the age questions connected with the code, of Menu." [This date is quite un- discussed in the notes to App. I. — founded, — see this, and some other ED.] 14 FOUR CLASSES OR CASTS from a comparison of the two pictures ; and a view of the nation, at a particular point of the transition, will be afforded from the accounts which have been left to us by the Greeks. CHAPTER I DIVISION AND EMPLOYMENT OP CLASSES Bramins — Cshatriyas — Veisyas — Sudras — Mixture of classes. THE first feature that strikes us in the society described by Menu is the division into four classes 1 or casts (the sacerdotal, the military, the industrious, and the servile). In these we are struck with the prodigious elevation and sanctity of the Bramins, and the studied degradation of the lowest class. The first three classes, though by no means equal, are yet admitted into one pale : they all partake in certain sacred rites, to which peculiar importance is attached throughout the code ; and they appear to form the whole community for whose government the laws are framed. The fourth class and the outcasts are no further considered than as they contribute to the advantage of the superior casts. A Bramin is the chief of all created beings ; the world and all in it are his : through him, indeed, other mortals enjoy life ; 2 by his imprecations he could destroy a king, with his troops, elephants, horses, and cars ; 3 could frame other worlds and regents of worlds, and could give being to new gods and new mortals.4 A Bramin is to be treated with more respect than a king.5 His life and person are protected by the severest laws in this world,6 and the most tremendous denunciations for the next.7 He is exempt from capital punishment, even for the most enormous crimes.8 His offences against other classes are treated with remarkable lenity,9 while all offences against him are punished with tenfold severity.10 Yet it would seem, at first sight, as if the Bramins, content with gratifying their spiritual pride, had no design to profit by 1 The word class is adopted here, 2 Ch. i. 96, 100, 101. as being used in Sir W. Jones's trans- 3 Ch. ix. 313. latioii of Menu; but cast is the term 4 Ch. ix. 315. used in India, and by the old writers 5 Ch. ii. 139. on that country. It is often written 6 Ch. ix. 232, and viii. 281 — 283. caste in late books, and has sometimes 7 Ch. xi. 205 — 208, and iv. 165 — been mistaken for an Indian word, 169. but it is an English word, found in 8 Ch. viii. 380. Johnson's Dictionary, and derived a Ch. viii. 276, 378, 379. from the Spanish or Portuguese,— "> Ch. viii. 272, 283, 325, 377, and casta, a breed. xi. 205, 206. I. 1 THE BRAMIN 15 worldly wealth or power. The life prescribed to them is one of laborious study, as well as of austerity and retirement. The first quarter of a Bramin's life he must spend as a student ; n during which time he leads a life of abstinence and humiliation. His attention should be unremittingly directed to the Vedas, and should on no account be wasted on worldly studies. He should treat his preceptor with implicit obedience, and with humble respect and attachment, which ought to be extended to his family. He must perform various servile offices for his preceptor, and must labour for himself in bringing logs and other materials for sacrifice, and water for oblations. He must subsist entirely by begging from door to door.12 For the second quarter of his life, he lives with his wife and family, and discharges the ordinary duties of a Bramin. These are briefly stated to be, reading and teaching the Vedas ; sacri- ficing and assisting others to sacrifice ; bestowing alms, and accepting gifts. The most honourable of these employments is teaching.13 It is remarkable that, unlike other religions, where the dignity of the priesthood is derived from their service at the temples, a Bramin is considered as degraded by performing acts of worship or assisting at sacrifices, as a profession.14 All Bramins are strongly and repeatedly prohibited from receiving gifts from lowborn, wicked, or unworthy persons.15 They are not even to take many presents from unexceptionable givers, and are carefully to avoid making it a habit to accept of unnecessary presents.16 When the regular sources fail, a Bramin may, for a mere subsistence, glean, or beg, or cultivate, or even (in case of extreme necessity) he may trade ; but he must in no ex- tremity enter into service ; he must not have recourse to popular conversation, must abstain from music, singing, danc- ing, gaming, and generally from everything inconsistent with gravity and composure.17 He should, indeed, refrain from all sensual enjoyments, should avoid all wealth that may impede his reading the Vedas,18 and should shun all worldly honour as he would shun poison.19 Yet he is not to subject himself to fasts, or other needless severities.20 All that is required is, that his life should be decorous, and occupied in the prescribed studies and observ- ances. Even his dress is laid down with minuteness ; and he may easily be figured (much as learned Bramins are still), 11 Ch. ii. 175—210. feeling which still subsists in full 12 These rules are now observed force. by professed students only — if by 1S Ch. iv. 84; x. 109, 110, 111; them. xi. 194—197. 16 Ch. iv. 186. 3 Ch. x. 75, 76, 85. « Ch. iv. 63, 64. w Ch. iv. 16, 17. 14 Ch. iii. 180, and iv. 205. A 10 Ch. ii. 162. 20 ch. iv. 34. 16 DUTIES OF THE BRAMIN quiet and demure, clean and decent, :' his hair and beard clipped, his passions subdued, his mantle white, and his body pure ; ' with a staff and a copy of the Vedas in his hands, and bright golden rings in his ears.21 When he has paid the three debts, by reading the scriptures, begetting a son, and performing the regular sacrifices, he may (even in the second portion of his life) make over all to his son, and remain in his family house, with no employment but that of an umpire.22 The third portion of a Bramin's life he must spend as an anchorite in the woods. Clad in bark, or in the skin of a black antelope, with his hair and nails uncut, sleeping on the bare earth, he must live " without fire, without a mansion, wholly silent, feeding on roots and fruit." He must also submit to many and harsh mortifications, expose himself, naked, to the heaviest rains, wear humid garments in winter, and in summer stand in the midst of five fires under the burning sun.83 He must carefully perform all sacrifices and oblations, and consider it his special duty to fulfil the prescribed forms and ceremonies of religion. In the last period of his life, the Bramin is nearly as solitary and abstracted as during the third. But he is now released from all forms and external observances : his business is con- templation : his mortifications cease. His dress more nearly resembles that of ordinary Bramins ; and his abstinence, though still great, is not so rigid as before. He is no longer to invite suffering, but is to cultivate equanimity and to enjoy delight in meditation on the Divinity ; till, at last, he quits the body "as a bird leaves the branch of a tree at its pleasure." 24 Thus it appears that, during three-fourths of a Bramin's life, he was entirely excluded from the world, and, during the remaining fourth, besides having his time completely occupied by ceremonies, and in reading the Vedas, he was expressly debarred from the enjoyment of wealth or pleasure and from the pursuit of ambition. But a little further acquaintance with the code makes it evident that these rules are founded on a former condition of the Bramins ; and that, although still regarded as the model for their conduct, they had already been encroached on by the temptations of power and riches. The king must have a Bramin for his most confidential counsellor ; 25 and by Bramins is he to be instructed in policy as well as in justice and all learning.26 The whole judicial authority (except that exercised by the king in person) is in 21 Ch. iv. 35, 36. 24 Ch> vi> 33) to the 22 Ch. iv. 257. 2* Ch. vii. 58. 23 Ch. vi. 1—29. [Rather " Four 26 Ch. vii. 43. fires."— ED.] I. 1 PRIVILEGES OF THE BRAMIN 17 the hands of Bramins ; 27 and, although the perusal of the sacred writings is not withheld from the two nearest classes,28 yet the sense of them is only to be obtained through the exposition of a Bramin.29 The interpretation of the laws is expressly confined to the Bramins ; and we can perceive, from the code itself, how large a share of the work of legislation was in the hands of that order. The property of the sacred class is as well protected by the law as its power. Liberality to Bramins is made incumbent on every virtuous man,30 and is the especial duty of a king.31 Sacrifices and oblations, and all the ceremonies of religion, involve feasts and presents to the Bramins,32 and those gifts must always be liberal : " the organs of sense and action, reputation in this life, happiness in the next, life itself, children, and cattle are all destroyed by a sacrifice offered with trifling gifts to the priests." 33 Many penances may be commuted for large fines, which all go to the sacred class.34 If a Bramin finds a treasure, he keeps it all ; if it is found by another person, the king takes it, but must give one half to the Bramins.35 On failure of heirs, the property of others escheats to the king, but that of Bramins is divided among their class.36 A learned Bramin is exempt from all taxation, and ought, if in want, to be maintained by the king.37 Stealing the gold of Bramins incurs an extraordinary punish- ment, which is to be inflicted by the king in person, and is likely, in most cases, to be capital.38 Their property is pro- tected by many other denunciations ; and for injuring their cattle, a man is to suffer amputation of half his foot.39 The military class, though far from being placed on an equality with the Bramins, is still treated with honour. It is indeed acknowledged that the sacerdotal order cannot prosper without the military, or the military without the sacerdotal ; and that the prosperity of both in this world and the next depends on their cordial union.40 The military class enjoys, in a less degree, with respect to the Veisyas, the same inequality in criminal law that the 27 Ch. viii. 1, 9, 10, 11, and 60. formed the public offices of religion, 28 Ch. x. 1. some other designation would have 29 Ch. xii. 108 — 113. been more appropriate. 30 Ch. xi. 1—6, and iv. 226—235. 34 Ch. xi. 117, 128—139. 31 Ch. vii. 83—86. ™ Ch. viii. 37, 38. 32 Ch. iii. 123—146, especially » Ch. ix. 188, 189. 138, 143. 37 Ch. vii. 133, 134. 33 Ch. xi. 39, 40. Priest is the 18 Ch. viii. 314—316, and xi. 101. word used by Sir W. Jones through- 39 Ch. viii. 325. out his translation ; but as it has 40 Ch. ix. 322. been shown that few Bramins per- C 18 THE MILITARY CLASS Bramin possesses in respect to all the other classes.41 The king belongs to this class, as probably do all his ordinary ministers.42 The command of armies and of military divisions, in short, the whole military profession, and in strictness all situations of command, are also their birthright. It is indeed very observable, that even in the code drawn up by themselves, with the exception of interpreting the law, no interference in the executive government is ever allowed to Bramins. The duties of the military class are stated to be, to defend the people, to give alms, to sacrifice, to read the Vedas, and to shun the allurements of sensual gratification.43 The rank of Veisyas is not high ; for where a Bramin is enjoined to show hospitality to strangers, he is directed to show benevolence even to a merchant, and to give him food at the same time with his domestics.44 Besides largesses, sacrifice, and reading the Vedas, the duties of a Veisya are to keep herds of cattle, to carry on trade, to lend at interest, and to cultivate the land.45 The practical knowledge required from a Veisya is more general than that of the other classes ; for in addition to a knowledge of the means of breeding cattle, and a thorough ac- quaintance with all commodities and all soils, he must under- stand the productions and wants of other countries, the wages of servants, the various dialects of men, and whatever else belongs to purchase and sale.46 The duty of a Sudra is briefly stated to be to serve the other classes,47 but it is more particularly explained in different places that his chief duty is to serve the Bramins ; 48 and it is specially permitted to him, in case of want of subsistence and inability to procure service from that class, to serve a Cshatriya ; or if even that service cannot be obtained, to attend on an opulent Veisya.49 It is a general rule that, in times of distress, each of the classes may subsist by the occupations allotted to those beneath it, but must never encroach on the employments of those above it. A Sudra has no class beneath him ; but, if other employments fail, he may subsist by handicrafts, espe- cially joinery and masonry, painting and writing.50 A Sudra may perform sacrifices with the omission of the Ch. viii. 267, 208. serve in Menu the permission which Ch. yii. 54. is stated to be somewhere expressly Ch. i. 89. given to a Sudra to become a trader 4 Ch. iii. 112. or a husbandman. (Colebrooke, Ch. i. 90. Asiatic Researches, v. 63. ) Their em- Ch. ix. 329 — 332. ployment in husbandry, however, is Ch. i. 91. now so common, that most people Ch. ix. 334. conceive it to be the special business- 49 Ch. x. 121. of the cast. G0 Ch. x. 99, 100. I do not ob- I. 1 THE SUDRA 19 holy texts ; D1 yet it is an offence requiring expiation for a Bramin to assist him in sacrificing.52 A Bramin must not read the Veda, even to himself, in the presence of a Sudra.53 To teach him the law, or to instruct him in the mode of expiating sin, sinks a Bramin into the hell called Asamvrita. It is even forbidden to give him temporal advice.54 No offence is more repeatedly or more strongly inveighed against than that of a Bramin receiving a gift from a Sudra : it cannot even be expiated by penance, until the gift has been restored.55 A Bramin, starving, may take dry grain from a Sudra, but must never eat meat cooked by him. A Sudra is to be fed by the leavings of his master, or by his refuse grain, and clad in his worn-out garments.56 He must amass no wealth, even if he has the power, lest he become proud, and give pain to Bramins.57 If a Sudra use abusive language to one of a superior class, his tongue is to be slit.58 If he sit on the same seat with a Bramin, he is to have a gash made on the part offending.59 If he advise him about his religious duties, hot oil is to be dropped into his mouth and ears.60 These are specimens of the laws, equally ludicrous and inhuman, which are made in favour of the other classes against the Sudras. The proper name of a Sudra is directed to be expressive of contempt,61 and the religious penance for killing him is the same as for killing a cat, a frog, a dog, a lizard, and various other animals.62 Yet, though the degraded state of a Sudra be sufficiently evident, his precise civil condition is by no means so clear. Sudras are universally termed the servile class ; and, in one place, it is declared that a Sudra, though emancipated by his master, is not released from a state of servitude, " for," it is added, " of a state which is natural to him, by whom can he be divested ? " 63 Yet every Sudra is not necessarily the slave of an individual ; for it has been seen that they are allowed to offer their services to whom they please, and even to exercise trades on their own account : there is nothing to lead to a belief that they are the slaves of the state ; and, indeed, the exemption of Sudras from the laws against emigration,64 shows that no perfect right to their services was deemed to exist anywhere. Their right to property (which was denied to slaves 65) is 51 Ch. x. 127, 128. a» Ch. x. 125. & Ch. x. 129. 52 Ch. x. 109, 110, 111, and xi. 42, C8 Ch. viii. 270. 5» Ch. viii. 281. 43. 53 Ch> iv 99. eo ch. viii. 272. « Ch. ii. 31. 54 Ch. iv. 80, 81. ea ch. xi. 131, 132. ™ Ch. viii. 414. 55 Ch. xi. 194—197. and x. 111. «4 Ch. ii. 24. <* Ch. viii. 416. 20 THE SUDRA AND THE SLAVE admitted in many places : 66 their persons are protected, even against their master, who can only correct them in a manner fixed by law, and equally applicable to wives, children, pupils, and younger brothers.67 That there were some Sudra slaves is indisputable ; but there is every reason to believe that men of the other classes were also liable to fall into servitude. The condition of Sudras, therefore, was much better than that of the public slaves under some ancient republics, and, indeed, than that of the villains of the middle ages, or any other servile class with which we are acquainted.68 Though the line between the different classes was so strongly marked, the means taken to prevent their mixture do not seem to have been nearly so much attended to as in after times. The law in this respect seems rather dictated by jealousy of the honour of the women of the upper classes than by regard for the purity of descents. Men of the first three classes are freely indulged in the choice of women from any inferior cast,69 provided they do not give them the first place in their family.70 But no marriage is permitted with women of a higher class : criminal intercourse with them is checked by the severest penalites ; 71 and their offspring is degraded far below either of its parents.72 The son of a Bramin, by a woman of the class next below him, takes a station intermediate between his father and mother ; 73 and 66 For one instance, ch. ix. 157. 67 Ch viii. 299, 300. es [" "phe condition of a Sudra in the Hindu system was infinitely pre- ferable to that of the helot, the slave, or the serf of the Greek, the Roman, and the feudal systems. He was independent, his services were op- tional ; they were not agricultural, but domestic and personal, and claimed adequate compensation. He had the power of accumulating wealth, or injunctions against his so doing would have been superfluous. He had the opportunity of rising to rank, for the Puranas record dy- nasties of Sudra kings ; and even Manu notices their existence. He might to a certain extent study and teach religious knowledge (' a be- liever in Scripture may receive pure knowledge, even from a Sudra : ' Manu, ii. 238), and he might perform religious acts. * As a Sudra, without injuring another man, performs the lawful acts of the twice-born, even thus, without being censured, he gains exaltation in this world, and the next.' Manu, x. 128. See also 121—131, and Vishnu Purana, p. 292, and note. " No doubt the Sudra was con- sidered in some degree the property of the Brahman, but he had rights and privileges, and freedom, much beyond any other of the servile classes of antiquity." Mill (Wilson, note], i. 194. At Yudhishthira's inauguration, as described in the Mahabharata, we find that, although the principal guests are Brahmans and warriors, " the invitations are extended to respectable Vaisyas and to Sudras universally ; the agricultural and servile classes thus having their due consideration, even at a ceremonial of a religious as well as of a political tendency." At the actual sacrifice, however, no Sudras were present. See Wilson, Journ. R. A. S., vol. vii. p. 138.— ED.] 69 Ch. ii. 238—240, and iii. 13. 70 Ch. iii. 14—19. 71 Ch. viii. 366, 374—377. 72 Ch. x. 11—19. 73 Ch. x. 6. I. 2 LOSS OF CAST 21 the daughters of such connexions, if they go on marrying Bramins for seven generations, restore their progeny to the original purity of the sacerdotal class ; 74 but the son of a Sudra by a Bramin woman is a Chandala, " the lowest of mortals," 75 and his intercourse with women of the higher classes produces " a race more foul than their begetter." 76 The classes do not seem to have associated at their meals even in the time of Menu ; and there is a striking contrast between the cordial festivity recommended to Bramins with their own class, and the constrained hospitality with which they are directed to prepare food after the Bramins for a military man coming as a guest.77 But there is no prohibition in the code against eating with other classes, or partaking of food cooked by them (which is now the great occasion for loss of cast), except in the case of Sudras ; and even then the offence is expiated by living on water-gruel for seven days.78 Loss of cast seems, in general, to have been incurred by crimes, or by omitting the prescribed expiations for offences. It is remarkable that, in the four classes, no place is assigned to artisans : Sudras, indeed, are permitted to practise mechanic trades during a scarcity of other employment, but it is not said to whom the employment regularly belongs. From some of the allotments mentioned in Chap. X. it would appear that the artisans were supplied, as they are now, from the mixed classes : a circumstance which affords ground for surmise that the division into casts took place while arts were in too simple a state to require separate workmen for each ; and also that too many generations had elapsed between that division and the code to allow so important a portion of the employments of the community to be filled by classes formed subsequently to the original distribution of the people. CHAPTER II GOVERNMENT The king — Administration of the government — Revenue — The court — Policy —War. THE government of the society thus constituted was vested in an absolute monarch. The opening of the chapter on govern- ment employs the boldest poetical figures to display the irresist- ible power, the glory, and almost the divinity of a king.1 74 Ch. x. 64. with women of lower classes is now 75 Ch. x. 12. prohibited. 77 Ch. iii. 110— 113. 76 Ch. x. 29, 30. All marriage 78 Ch. xi. 153. l Ch. vii. 1—13. 22 THE KING He was subject, indeed, to no legal control by human authority ; and, although he is threatened with punishment in one place,2 and spoken of as subject to fine in another ; 3 yet no means are provided for enforcing those penalties, and neither the councils nor the military chiefs appear to have possessed any constitutional power but what they derived from his will. He must, however, have been subject to the laws promulgated in the name of the Divinity ; and the influence of the Bramins, both with him and with his people, would afford a strong support to the injunctions of the code. Like other despots, also, he must have been kept within some bounds by the fear of mutiny and revolt.4 The object of the institution of a king is declared to be, to restrain violence and to punish evil-doers. ;' Punishment wakes when guards are asleep." ;' If a king were not to punish the guilty, the stronger would roast the weaker like fish on a spit." ;' Ownership would remain with none ; the lowest would overset the highest." 5 The duties of a king are said generally to be, to act in his own domains with justice, chastise foreign foes with rigour, behave without duplicity to his friends, and with lenity to Bramins.6 He is respectfully to attend to the Bramins, and from them to learn lessons of modesty and composure ; from them, also, he is to learn justice, policy, metaphysics, and theology. From the people he is to learn the theory of agri- culture, commerce, and other practical arts.7 He is to withstand pleasure, restrain his angry passions, and resist sloth. He is to appoint seven ministers, or rather counsellors (who seem to be of the military class), and to have one learned Bramin distinguished above them all, in whom he is to repose his full confidence. He is to appoint other officers also, among whom the most conspicuous is the one called " the ambassa- dor," though he seems rather to be a minister for foreign affairs. This person, like all the others, must be of noble birth ; and must be endued with great abilities, sagacity, and penetration. He should be honest, popular, dexterous in business, acquainted with countries and with the times, handsome, intrepid, and eloquent. 2 Ch> v??: 27~ 29- Charitra," the great monarch Rama Ch. viii. 336. v is compelled by the clamours of his In the " Toy Cart," a drama people to banish his beloved queen. — written about the commencement See Wilson's Hindis Theatre, of our era, the king is dethroned, for 5 Ch. vii. 13 — 26. tyranny, by a cowherd ; and in 6 Ch. vii. 32. another drama, the " Uttara Rama ? ch. vii. 43, I. 2 THE SYSTEM OF ADMINISTRATION 23 The army is to be immediately regulated by a commander- in-chief ; the actual infliction of punishment, by the officers of justice ; the treasury and the country, by the king himself ; peace and war, by the ambassador.8 The king was doubtless to superintend all those departments ; but, when tired of overlooking the affairs of men, he might allow that duty to devolve on a well-qualified prime minister.3 His internal administration is to be conducted by a chain of civil officers, consisting of lords of single townships or villages, lords of 10 towns, lords of 100, and lords of 1000 towns.10 These are all to be appointed by the king, and each is to report all offences and disturbances to his immediate superior. The compensation of a lord of one town is to be the provisions and other articles to which the king is entitled from the town ; that of a lord of 2 villages, 10 ploughs of land ; the lord of 100 is to have the land of a small village ; and of 1000, that of a large town.11 These officers are all to be under the inspection of super- intendents of high rank and great authority. There is to be one in every large town or city ; and on them it depends to check the abuses to which the officers of districts (it is said) are naturally prone.12 The country is also to be partitioned into military divisions, in each of which is to be a body of troops, commanded by an approved officer,13 whose territorial limits do not necessarily correspond with those of any of the civil magistrates. The revenue consists of a share of all grain and of all other agricultural produce ; taxes on commerce ; a very small annual imposition on petty traders and shopkeepers ; and a forced service of a day in each month by handicraftsmen.14 The merchants are to be taxed on a consideration of the prime cost of their commodities, the expense of travelling, and their net profits. The following are the rates of taxation : — On cattle, gems, gold, and silver, added each year to the capital stock, one-fiftieth ; which in time of war or invasion may be increased to one- twentieth. On grain, one-twelfth, one-eighth, or one-sixth, " according 8 Ch. vii. 54—69. ll [Ch. vii. 119.] In the first case 9 Ch. vii. 141. the compensation is derived from 10 [The word used in Manu is the small fees in kind, which still grama, explained in Wilson's Sansk. form the remuneration of the village Diet, as " a village, a hamlet, an in- officers ; in the other three cases, habited and unfortified place, in the it consists of the king's share of the midst of fields and meadow land, produce of the land specified where men of the servile class mostly 12 Ch. vii. 119 — 123. reside, and where agriculture thrives." 13 Ch. vii. 114. -ED.] i* Ch. vii. 137, 138. 24 TAXATION to the soil and the labour necessary to cultivate it." 15 This also may be raised, in cases of emergency, even as far as one- fourth ; and must always have been the most important item of the public revenue. On the clear annual increase of trees, flesh-meat, honey, perfumes, and several other natural productions and manu- factures, one-sixth.16 The king is also entitled to 20 per cent, on the profit of all sales.17 Escheats for want of heirs have been mentioned as being his, and so also is all property to which no owner appears within three years after proclamation.18 Besides possessing mines of his own, he is entitled to half of all precious minerals in the earth.19 He appears, likewise, to have a right of pre- emption on some descriptions of goods.20 It has been argued that, in addition to the rights which have just been specified, the king was regarded in the code as possessing the absolute property of the land. This opinion is supported by a passage (VIII. 39) where he is said to be " lord paramount of the soil " ; and by another, where it is supposed to be directed that an occupier of land shall be responsible to the king if he fails to sow it (VIII. 243). In reply to this it is urged, that the first quotation is de- prived of its force by a similar passage (VII. 7), where the king is said to be " the regent of the waters and the lord of the firmament." The second is answered by denying its correctness ; but even if undisputed, it might only be a provision against the king's losing his share of the produce in consequence of the neglect of the proprietor. A text is also produced in opposition to the king's claim, in which it is stated that " land is the property of him who cut away the wood ; ' or, in the words of the commentator, ' who tilled and cleared it " (IX. 44). But the conclusive argument is, that the king's share being limited, as above, to one-sixth, or at most one-fourth, there must have been another proprietor for the remaining five- sixths or three-fourths, who must obviously have had the greater interest of the two in the whole property shared.21 It is remarkable, however, that so little allusion is made in the code to the property of individuals in land, although so many occasions seem to require it. It is directly mentioned 15 The words between inverted 20 Ch. viii. 399. commas are an addition by the 21 The arguments in favour of ancient commentator Culluca. individual proprietors are stated 16 Ch. vii. 127 — 132. in Wilks's History of Mysore, i. ch. v., 17 Ch. viii. 398. and Appendix, p. 483 ; and those in 18 Ch. viii. 30. favour of the king in Mill's History of 1» Ch. via. 39. British India, i. 180. I. 2 OCCUPATIONS OF THE KING 25 in a passage about boundaries (VIII. 262 — 265), and in another place (IX. 49, 52 — 54) an argument is illustrated by supposing seed belonging to one man to be sown in land belonging to another ; and in IV. 230, 233, gifts of land are spoken of as if in the power of individuals to confer them ; but the last two passages may be construed to refer to villages, or to the king. In the division of inheritances, and the rules about mort- gages, in describing the wealth of individuals, and in disposing of the property of banished men, other possessions are men- tioned, but land never alluded to. Were it not for the passage first quoted (VIII. 262 — 265), we might conclude that all land was held in common by the village communities, as is still the case in many parts of India ; and this may, perhaps, have been the general rule, although individuals may have possessed property by grants of land from the villages or of his share of the produce from the king. The king is recommended to fix his capital in a fertile part of his dominions, but in an immediate neighbourhood difficult of access, and incapable of supporting invading armies. He should keep his fortress always well garrisoned and provisioned. In the centre should be his own palace, also defensible, " well finished, and brilliant, surrounded with water and trees." He is then to choose a queen distinguished for birth and beauty, and to appoint a domestic priest.22 He is to rise in the last watch of the night, and, after sacri- fices, to hold a court in a hall decently splendid, and to dismiss his subjects with kind looks and words. This done, he is to assemble his council on a mountain or a terrace, in a bower or a forest, or other lonely place, without listeners ; from which women and talking-birds are to be carefully removed. He is then, after manly exercises and bathing, to dine in his private apartments, and this time and midnight are to be allotted to the regulation of his family, to considering appointments, and such other public business as is most of a personal nature.23 He is now, also, to give some time to relaxation ; and then to review his troops, perform his religious duties at sunset, and afterwards to receive the reports of his emissaries. At length he withdraws to his most private apartments to supper ; and, after indulging for some time in music, is to retire to rest.24 This rational and pleasing picture is broken by the mention of many of those precautions which must takejfrom all the enjoyments of an Asiatic monarch. His food is only to be served by trustworthy persons, and is to be accompanied by antidotes against poison. He is to be armed when he receives his emissaries ; even his female attendants are to be searched, 22 Ch. vii. 69—78. 23 ch. vii. 145—151. 24 ch. vii. 216—225,, 26 FOREIGN RELATIONS for fear of hidden weapons ; and, whether at home or abroad, he is to be constantly on his guard against the plots of his enemies. Foreign policy and war are the subjects of many of the rules for government. These are interesting, from the clear proofs which they afford of the division of India, even at that early period, into many unequal and independent states ; and also from the signs which they disclose of a civilized and gentle people. The king is to provide for his safety by vigilance and a state of preparation ; but he is to act on all occasions without guile, and never with insincerity.25 The arts which may be employed against enemies are four : presents, sowing divisions, negotiations, and force of arms : the wise, it is said, prefer the two last.26 The king is to regard his nearest neighbours and their allies as hostile, the powers next beyond these natural foes as amicable, and all more remote powers as neutral.27 It is re- markable that, among the ordinary expedients to be resorted to in difficulties, the protection of a more powerful prince is more than once adverted to.28 Yet this protection appears to involve unqualified sub- mission ; and on the last occasion on which it is mentioned, the king is advised, if he thinks it an evil, even when in ex- tremities, to persevere alone, although weak, in waging vigorous war without fear.29 Vast importance is attached to spies, both in foreign politics and in war. Minute instructions are given regarding the sort of persons to be employed, some of whom are of the same description as are now used in India, — active artful youths, degraded anchorets, distressed husbandmen, decayed mer- chants, and fictitious penitents.30 The rules of war are simple ; and, being drawn up by Bramins, they show nothing of the practical ability for which the Indians are often distinguished at present. The plan of a campaign resembles those of the Greek re- publics or the early days of Rome ; and seems suited to coun- tries of much less extent than those which now exist in India. The king is to march when the vernal or autumnal crop is on the ground, and is to advance straight to the capital. In another place 100 bowmen in a fort are said to be a match for 10,000 enemies ; so far was the art of attack behind that of defence : a siege, therefore, is out of the question ; but, if not opposed, the king is to ravage the country, and intrigue with the enemy's chiefs, until he can bring his foe to an action on 25 Ch. vii. 103, 104. ™ Ch. vii. 109. 27 ch. vii. 158. 28 Ch. vii. 160. 29 ch. viii. 175, 176. 3<> Ch. vii. 154. I. 2 THE LAWS OF WAR 27 favourable terms,31 or, what is still more desirable, bring him to terms by negotiation. Armies were composed of cavalry and infantry. The great weapon of both was probably the bow, together with the sword and target. Elephants were much employed in war ; and chariots seem still to have formed an important branch of the army. Several different orders of march and battle are briefly given. The king is advised to recruit his forces from the upper parts of Hindostan, where the best men are still found.32 He is in person to set an example of valour to his troops, and is recommended to encourage them, when drawn up for battle, with short and animated speeches. Prize property belongs to the individual who took it ; but when not captured separately, it is to be distributed among the troops.33 The laws of war are honourable and humane. Poisoned and mischievously barbed arrows, and fire arrows, are all prohibited. There are many situations in which it is by no means allowable to destroy the enemy. Among those who must always be spared are unarmed or wounded men, and those who have broken their weapon, and one who asks his life, and one who says, " I am thy captive." Other prohibi- tions are still more generous : a man on horseback or in a chariot is not to kill one on foot ; nor is it allowed to kill one who sits down fatigued, or who sleeps, or who flees, or who is fighting with another man.34 The settlement of a conquered country is conducted on equally liberal principles. Immediate security is to be assured to all by proclamation. The religion and laws of the country are to be maintained and respected ; and as soon as time has been allowed for ascertaining that the conquered people are to be trusted, a prince of the old royal family is to be placed on the throne, and to hold his kingdom as a dependence on the conqueror.35 It is remarkable that, although the pay of the king's house- hold servants is settled with some minuteness,36 not a syllable is said regarding that of the army, or the source from which its support is derived. The practice of modern Hindu nations would lead us to suppose that it was maintained by assignments of land to the chiefs ; but, if that practice had existed at the 31 Ch. vii. 181 — 197. Jaipur (?), Kanauj, and Mathura : 32 [" Men born in Kurukshetra, cf. also ii. 19. — ED.] the Matsyas, the inhabitants of M Ch. vii. 96, 97. Panchala and Surasena," (Mann, vii. 34 Ch. vii. 90 — 93. 196,) i.e. the district near Delhi, » Ch. vii. 201—203. 36 Ch. vii. 126, 28 ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE time of the code, it is impossible that so important a body as those chiefs would have formed should not have been alluded to in discussing the internal administration ; even if no rules were suggested for regulating their attendance, and for securing some portion of the king's authority over the lands thus alien- ated. It is possible that the army may have been paid by separate assignments of land to each individual soldier, in the same manner as the local troops of the small states in the South of India (which have been little visited by the Mahometans) are still ; and this opinion derives some support from the payment of the civil officers having been provided for by such assignments.37 From one passage it would appear that the monarchy descended, undivided, to one son, probably (according to Hindu rule) to him whom his father regarded as most worthy. ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE General rules — Criminal law — Civil law — Mode of proceeding — Law of evi- dence— Mode of proceeding resumed — Debts — Interests of money — Contracts — Sale without ownership — Disputes between master and servant — Disputes about boundaries — Relations between man and wife — Inheritance. JUSTICE is to be administered by the king in person, assisted by Bramins and other counsellors ; 1 or that function may be deputed to one Bramin, aided by three assessors of the same class.2 There is no exception made for the conduct of criminal trials ; but it may be gathered from the general tone of the laws, that the king is expected to take a more active share in this department than in the investigation of civil causes. From the silence of the code regarding local administration, it may perhaps be inferred that the king's representative fills his place in the courts of justice, at towns remote from the royal residence.3 37 See ch. vii. 119, already re- ferred to. 1 Ch. viii. 1, 2. 2 Ch. viii. 9—11. 3 The early practice of the Hindus recorded in other books leaves this question in some uncertainty ; for, in those books, it appears that there were local judges appointed by the king in different parts of the country ; and also a provision for arbitrations, to be authorized by the judges, in three gradations, — first, of kinsmen ; secondly, of men of the same trade ; and thirdly, of townsmen : an appeal from the first lying to the second, and from the second to the third. Ap- peals lay from all three to the local court, from that to the chief court at the capital, and from that to the king in his own court, composed of a certain number of judges, to whom were joined his ministers, and his domestic chaplain (who was to I. 3 CRIMINAL LAW 29 The king is entitled to 5 per cent, on all debts admitted by the defendant on trial, and to 10 per cent, on all denied and proved.4 This fee probably went direct to the judges, who would thus be remunerated without infringing the law against Bramins serving for hire. A king or judge in trying causes is carefully to observe the countenances, gestures, and mode of speech of the parties and witnesses. He is to attend to local usages of districts, the peculiar law of classes and rules of families, and the customs of traders : when not inconsistent with the above, he is to observe the principles established by former judges. Neither he nor his officers are to encourage litigation, though they must show no slackness in taking up any suit regularly instituted.5 A king is reckoned among the worst of criminals who re- ceives his revenue from his subjects without affording them due protection in return.6 The king is enjoined to bear with rough language from irritated litigants, as well as from old or sick people, who come before him.7 He is also cautioned against deciding causes on his own judgment, without consulting persons learned in the law ;8 and is positively forbidden to disturb any transaction that has once been settled conformably to law.9 In trials he is to adhere to established practice.1 10 1. Criminal Law The criminal law is very rude, and this portion of the code, together with the religious penances, leaves a more unfavour- able impression of the early Hindus than any other part of the Institutes. It is not, however, sanguinary, unless when influenced by superstition or by the prejudice of cast ; and if punishments are, in some cases, too severe, in others they are far too lenient. Mutilation (chiefly of the hand) is among the punishments, as in all Asiatic codes. Burning alive is one of the inflictions on offenders against the sacerdotal order ; but it is an honourable distinction from most ancient codes, that torture is never employed either against witnesses or criminals. But the direct his conscience) ; but, though a note to Mill (vol. i. p. 213), assigns these might advise, the decision these regulations to "a period not rested with the king. The precise long subsequent to the code of Manu, date when this system was in perfec- if not contemporary." — ED.] tion is not stated. — Colebrooke on 4 Ch. viii. 139. 5 Ch. viii. 41 — 46. the Hindu Courts of Judicature, 6 Ch. viii. 307. 7 Ch. viii. 312. Transactions of the Royal Asiatic 8 Ch. viii. 390. 9 Ch. ix. 233. Society, vol. ii. p. 166. [Wilson, in 10 Ch. viii. 45. 30 PUNISHMENT FOR OFFENCES laxness, confusion, and barbarism which pervade this branch of the law seem to prove that it was drawn from the practice of very early times ; and the adoption of it at the time of the compilation of these Institutes shows an unimproved condition even then, though it is not unlikely that parts of it were early superseded by an arbitrary system more conformable to reason, as is the case in Hindu countries in modern times ; and by no means improbable that the bloody laws in favour of religion and of the priesthood, though inserted in the code by the Bramin author, as the ideal perfection of a Hindu criminal law, may never have been acted on by any Cshatriya king.11 The punishments, though not always in themselves severe, are often disproportioned to the offence ; and are frequently so indistinctly or contradictorily declared as to leave the fate of an offender quite uncertain. Both these faults are conspicuous in the following instance : Slaying a priest, drinking spirits, stealing the gold of a priest, and violating the bed of one's natural or spiritual father, are all classed under one head, and subject to one punishment.12 That punishment is at first declared to be, branding on the forehead, banishment, and absolute exclusion from the society of mankind (unless previously expiated by penance,13 in which case the highest fine is to be substituted for branding) ; and this is declared applicable to all the classes.14 Yet it is im- mediately afterwards directed that, when expiation has been performed, a priest guilty of those offences shall pay the middle fine, and shall in no case be deprived of his effects or the society of his family ; while it is pronounced that the other classes, even after expiation, shall, in case of premeditation, suffer death.15 Still more inconsistent are the punishments for adultery and what are called overt acts of adulterous inclination. Among these last are included, talking to the wife of another man at a place of pilgrimage, or in a forest, or at the confluence of rivers ; sending her flowers or perfumes ; touching her apparel or her ornaments, and sitting on the same couch with her ; 1G yet the penalty is banishment, with such bodily marks as may excite aversion.17 For adultery itself, it is first declared, without reserve, that 11 In the "Toy Cart," the earliest Bramin's innocence is proved, this of the Hindu dramas, and written open defiance of the laws of Menu is about the commencement of our era, not made a charge against the de- this extravagant veneration for Bra- throned prince. 12 Ch. ix. 235. mins nowhere appears. The king 13 Ch. ix. 237. sentences one of that class convicted u Ch. ix. 240. of murder to be put to death ; and 15 Ch. ix. 241, 242. though he is afterwards deposed by a 16 Ch. viii. 356, 357. successful rebellion, and although the 17 Ch. viii. 352. I. 3 PUNISHMENT FOR OFFENCES 31 the woman is to be devoured by dogs, and the man burned on an iron bed ; 18 yet, in the verses next following, it appears that the punishment of adultery without aggravation is a fine of from 500 to 1000 panas.19 The punishment, indeed, in- creases in proportion to the dignity of the party offended against. Even a soldier committing adultery with a Bramin woman, if she be of eminently good qualities, and properly guarded, is to be burned alive in a fire of dry grass or reeds.20 These flat contradictions can only be accounted for by supposing that the compiler put down the laws of different periods, or those supported by different authorities, without considering how they bore on each other. There is no express punishment for murder. From one passage 21 it would appear that it (as well as arson and robbery attended with violence) is capital, and that the slighter punish- ments mentioned in other places were in cases where there was no premeditation ; but, as the murder of particular descriptions of persons is afterwards declared capital,22 it remains doubtful what is the punishment for the offence in simple cases. Theft is punished, if small, with fine ; if of greater amount, with cutting off the hand ; but if the thief be taken with the stolen goods upon him, it is capital.23 Receivers of stolen goods, and persons who harbour thieves, are liable to the same punishment as the thief.24 It is remarkable that, in cases of small theft, the fine of a Bramin offender is at least eight times as great as that of a Sudra, and the scale varies in a similar manner and proportion between all the classes.25 A king committing an offence is to pay a thousand times as great a fine as would be exacted from an ordinary person.26 Robbery seems to incur amputa- tion of the limb principally employed. If accompanied with violence it is capital ; and all who shelter robbers, or supply them with food or implements, are to be punished with death. Forging royal edicts, causing dissensions among great min- isters, adhering to the king's enemies, and slaying women, priests, or children, are put under one head as capital.27 Men who openly oppose the king's authority, who rob his treasury, or steal his elephants, horses, or cars, are liable to capital punishment ; as are those who break into a temple to steal.28 For cutting purses, the first offence is cutting off the fingers, the second the hand, the third is capital.29 19 Ch. viii. 371, 372. 19 Ch. vii. 376, 382—385. 20 ch. viii. 377. 21 Ch. viii. 344—347. 22 Ch. ix. 232. 2:5 Ch. ix. 270. 24 Ch. ix. 278. as Ch. viii. 337, 338. » Ch. viii. 336. 27 Ch. ix. 232. 28 Ch. ix. 280. » Ch. ix. 277. 32 PAINS AND PENALTIES False evidence is to be punished with banishment accom- panied by fine, except in case of a Bramin, when it is banish- ment alone.30 Banishment is likewise the sentence pronounced upon men who do not assist in repelling an attempt to plunder a town,31 to break down an embankment, or to commit robbery on the highway. Public guards, not resisting or apprehending thieves, are to be punished like the thieves.32 Gamesters and keepers of gaming-houses are liable to cor- poral punishment.33 Most other offences are punished by fines, though sometimes other punishments are substituted. No fine must exceed 1000 panas, or fall short of 250. 34 Defamation is confined to this sort of penalty, except with Sudras, who are liable to be whipped. It is to be observed, however, that this class is protected by a fine from defamation, even by a Bramin.35 Abusive language is still more distinguished for the in- equality of punishments among the casts, but even in this branch of the law are traces of a civilized spirit. Men re- proaching their neighbours with lameness, blindness, or any other natural infirmity, are liable to a small fine, even if they speak the truth.36 Assaults, if among equals, are punished by a fine of 100 panas for blood drawn, a larger sum for a wound, and banish- ment for breaking a bone.37 The prodigious inequality into which the penalty runs between men of different classes has already been noticed.38 Proper provisions are made for injuries inflicted in self- defence ; in consequence of being forcibly obstructed in the execution of one's duty, or in defence of persons unjustly attacked.39 Furious and careless driving involves fines as different in degree as the loss occasioned by the death of a man and of the lowest animal.40 Persons defiling the highways are subject to a small fine, besides being obliged to remove the nuisance.41 Ministers taking bribes in private affairs are punished by confiscation of their property.42 30 Ch. viii. 120—123. 32 ch. ix. 272. 33 Ch. ix. 224. 31 Ch. ix. 274. If this law does 3* Ch. viii. 138. 35 Ch. viii. 267— 277. not refer to foreign enemies, it shows M Ch. viii. 274. 37 Ch. viii. 284. that gang robbery, now so well known 38 See p. 14. 39 Ch. viii. 348, etc. under the name of dacoity, existed 40 Ch. viii. 290 — 298, even when this code was compiled. 41 Ch. ix. 282, 283. [Culluca explains it as referring to 42 Ch. ix. 231. robbers, etc. — ED.] I. 3 CIVIL LAW 33 The offences of physicians or surgeons who injure their patients for want of skill ; breaking hedges, palisades, and earthen idols ; mixing pure with impure commodities, and other impositions on purchasers, are all lumped up under a penalty of from 250 to 500 panas.43 Selling bad grain for good, however, incurs severe corporal punishment ; 44 and, what far more passes the limits of just distinction, a goldsmith guilty of fraud is ordered to be cut to pieces with razors.45 Some offences not noticed by other codes are punished in this one with whimsical disregard to their relative importance : forsaking one's parents, son, or wife, for instance, is punished by a fine of 600 panas ; and not inviting one's next neighbour to entertainments on certain occasions, by a fine of one masha of silver.46 The rules of police are harsh and arbitrary. Besides main- taining patrols and fixed guards, open and secret, the king is to have many spies, who are to mix with the thieves, and lead them into situations where they may be entrapped. When fair means fail, the prince is to seize them and put them to death, with their relations : the ancient commentator, Calluca, inserts, ;' on proof of their guilt, and the participation of their rela- tions " ; which, no doubt, would be a material improvement on the text, but for which there is no authority.47 Gamesters, public dancers, and singers, revilers of scripture, open heretics, men who perform not the duties of their several classes, and sellers of spirituous liquors, are to be instantly banished from the town.48 2. Civil Law The laws for civil judicature are very superior to the penal code, and, indeed, are much more rational and matured than could well be expected of so early an age. Cases are first stated in which the plaintiff is to be non- suited, or the decision to go by default 49 against the defend- ant ; and rules then given in case the matter comes to a trial. The witnesses must be examined standing in the middle of the court-room, and in the presence of the parties. The judge must previously address a particular form of exhortation to them, and warn them in the strongest terms of the enormous guilt of false evidence, and the punishment with which it will be followed in a future state.50 If there are no witnesses, the judge must admit the oaths of the parties.51 The law of evidence in many particulars resembles that of 43 Ch. ix. 284—287. 44 Ch. ix. 291. 45 Ch. ix. 292. 46 Ch. vii. 389, 392. * Ch. ix. 252—269. 48 Ch. ix. 225. 49 Ch. viii. 52—57. 50 Ch. viii. 79—101. G1 Ch. viii. 101. D 34 FALSE EVIDENCE England : persons having a pecuniary interest in the cause, infamous persons, menial servants, familiar friends, with others disqualified on slighter grounds, are in the first instance excluded from giving testimony ; but, in default of other evi- dence, almost every description of persons may be examined, the judge making due allowance for the disqualifying causes.52 Two exceptions which disgrace these otherwise well-inten- tioned rules have attracted more attention in Europe than the rules themselves. One is the declaration that a giver of false evidence, for the purpose of saving the life of a man of whatever class, who may have exposed himself to capital punishment,53 shall not lose a seat in heaven ; and, though bound to perform an expiation, has, on the whole, performed a meritorious action.54 The other does not relate to judicial evidence, but pronounces that, in courting a woman, in an affair where grass or fruit has been eaten by a cow, and in case of a promise made for the preservation of a Bramin, it is no deadly sin to take a light oath.55 From these passages it has been assumed that the Hindu law gives a direct sanction to perjury ; and to this has been ascribed the prevalence of false evidence, which is common to men of all religions in India ; yet there is more space devoted in this code to the prohibition of false evidence, than to that of any other crime, and the offence is denounced in terms as awful as have ever been applied to it in any European treatise either of religion or of law.56 A party advancing a wilfully false plea or defence is liable to a heavy fine : a judicious rule, which is pushed to absurdity in subjecting to corporal punishment a plaintiff who procras- tinates the prosecution of his demand.57 Appeals to ordeal are admitted, as might be expected in so superstitious a people.58 The following statement of the principal titles of law implies an advanced stage of civilization, and would not, in itself, be C2 Ch. viii. 61 — 72. priest, those places are ordained for 53 The ancient commentator Cul- a witness who gives false evidence." luca inserts, after " capital punish- — Ch. viii. 89. ment," the words, " through inad " Naked and shorn, tormented vertence or error " ; which proves with hunger and thirst, and deprived that in his time the words of the text of sight, shall the man who gives false were repugnant to the moral feeling evidence go with a potsherd to beg of the community. food at the door of his enemy. "- 54 Ch. viii. 103, 104. "Headlong, in utter darkness, " shall 55 Ch. viii. 112. the impious wretch tumble into hell, 56 " Marking well all the murders who, being interrogated on a judicial comprehended in the crime of per- inquiry, answers one question falsely." jury, declare thou the whole truth — Ch. viii. 93, 94. with precision." — Ch. viii. 101. 57 Ch. viii. 58. 59. "Whatever places of torture have C8 Ch. viii. 114 — 116. been prepared for the slayer of a I. 3 PRINCIPLE TITLES OF LAW 35 deficient in clearness and good sense, if it were not for the mixture of civil and criminal suits : — 1st, debt on loans for consumption ; 2nd, deposits and loans for use ; 3rd, sale without ownership ; 4th, concerns among partners ; 5th, sub- traction of what has been given ; 6th, non-payment of wages or hire ; 7th, non-performance of agreements ; 8th, rescission of sale and purchase ; 9th, disputes between master and ser- vant ; 10th, contests on boundaries ; llth and 12th, assault and slander ; 13th, larceny ; 14th, robbery and other violence ; 15th, adultery ; 16th, altercation between man and wife, and their several duties ; 17th, the law of inheritance ; 18th, gaming with dice and with living creatures.59 Some of these heads are treated of in a full and satisfactory manner, while the rules in others are meagre, and such as to show that the transactions they relate to were still in a simple state. I shall only mention a few of the most remarkable provisions under each head. A creditor is authorised, before complaining to the court, to recover his property by any means in his power, resorting even to force within certain bounds.60 This law still operates so strongly in some Hindu states, that a creditor imprisons his debtor in his private house, and even keeps him for a period without food and exposed to the sun, to compel him to produce the money he owes. Interest varies from 2 per cent, per mensem for a Bramin to 5 per cent, for a Sudra. It is reduced one-half when there is a pledge, and ceases altogether if the pledge can be used for the profit of the lender.61 There are rules regarding interest on money lent on bot- tomry for sea voyages, and on similar risk by land ; and others for preventing the accumulation of interest on money above the original amount of the principal.62 Various rules regarding sureties for personal appearance and pecuniary payments, as well as regarding contracts, are introduced under this head. Fraudulent contracts, and contracts entered into for illegal purposes, are null. A contract made, even by a slave, for the support of the family of his absent master, is binding on the master.63 A sale by a person not the owner is void, unless made in the open market ; in that case it is valid if the purchaser can produce the seller, otherwise the right owner may take the property on paying half the value.61 69 Ch. viii. 4—7. 60 Ch. viii. 48—50. 61 Ch. viii. 140—143. « Ch. viii. 151, 156, 157. 63 Ch. viii. 158—167. «* Ch. viii. 197—202. 36 LAWS RELATING TO MARRIAGE A trader breaking his promise is to be fined ; or, if it was made on oath, to be banished.65 A sale may be unsettled by either party within ten days after it is made, but not later.66 Disputes between master and servant refer almost entirely to herdsmen and their responsibilities about cattle.67 Boundaries of villages are to be marked by natural objects, such as streams, or by planting trees, digging ponds, and building temples along them, as well as other open marks above ground, and secret ones buried in the earth. In case of dis- putes, witnesses are to be examined on oath, in the presence of all the parties concerned, putting earth on their heads, wearing chaplets of red flowers, and clad in red garments. If the question cannot be settled by evidence, the king must make a general inquiry and fix the boundary by authority. The same course is to be adopted about the boundaries of private fields.68 The rules regarding man and wife are full of puerilities ; the most important ones shall be stated after a short account of the laws relating to marriage. Six forms of marriage are recognised as lawful. Of these, four only are allowed to Bramins, which (though differing in minute particulars) all agree in insisting that the father shall give away his daughter without receiving a price. The re- maining two forms are permitted to the military class alone, and are abundantly liberal even with that limitation. One is, when a soldier carries off a woman after a victory, and espouses her against her will ; and the other, when consummation takes place by mutual consent, without any formal ceremony what- ever. Two sorts of marriage are forbidden : when the father receives a nuptial present ; 69 and when the woman, from intoxication, or other cause, has been incapable of giving a real consent to the union.70 A girl may marry at eight, or even earlier ; and, if her father fails to give her a husband for three years after she is marriageable (i.e. capable of being a parent), she is at liberty to choose one for herself.71 Men may marry women of the classes below them, but on no account of those superior to their own.72 A man must not marry within six known degrees of relationship on either side, e5 Ch. viii. 219, etc. gust, as a sale of the daughter, while, fi6 Ch. viii. 222. in some places, the mode of disposing 67 Ch. viii. 229 — 234. of presents so received, and the claims 68 Ch. viii. 245 — 205. arising from them, are discussed as 69 There is, however, throughout legal points. the code, a remarkable wavering on 70 Ch. iii. 20 — 34. this head, the acceptance of a present 71 Ch. ix. 88 — 93. being in general spoken of with dis- 72 Ch. iii. 12 — 19. I. 3 POSITION OF THE WIFE 37 nor with any woman whose family name, being the same, shows her to be of the same race as his own.73 The marriage of people of equal class is performed by joining hands ; but a woman of the military class, marrying a Bramin, holds an arrow in her hand ; a Veisya woman, a whip ; and a Sudra, the skirt of a mantle.74 The marriage of equals is most recommended, for the first wife at least : that of a Bramin with a Sudra is discouraged ; and as a first wife, it is positively forbidden.75 Marriage is indissoluble, and the parties are bound to observe mutual fidelity.75 From the few cases hereafter specified, in which the husband may take a second wife, it may be inferred that, with those exceptions, he must have but one wife. A man may marry again on the death of his wife ; but the marriage of widows is discouraged, if not prohibited (except in the case of Sudras). A wife who is barren for eight years, or she who has produced no male children in eleven, may be superseded by another wife.76 It appears, notwithstanding this expression, that the wife first married retains the highest rank in the family.77 Drunken and immoral wives, those who bear malice to their husbands, or are guilty of very great extravagance, may also be superseded.78 A wife who leaves her husband's house, or neglects him, for a twelvemonth, without a cause, may be deserted altogether.79 A man going abroad must leave a provision for his wife.80 The wife is bound to wait for her absent husband for eight years, if he be gone on religious duty ; six, if in pursuit of knowledge or fame ; and three, if for pleasure only.81 The practice of allowing a man to raise up issue to his brother, if he died without children, or even if (though still alive) he have no hopes of progeny, is reprobated, except for Sudras, or in case of a widow who has lost her husband before consummation.82 The natural heirs of a man are the sons of his body, and their sons, and the sons of his daughters, when appointed in default of heirs male to raise up issue to him.83 73 Ch. iii. 5. 74 Ch. iii. 44. in the code regarding marriages of 75 Ch. ix. 46, 47, 101, 102. widows (as on some other subjects) 76 Ch. ix. 81. 77 Ch. ix. 122. we may infer that the law varied at 78 Ch. ix. 80. different places or times ; or rather, 79 Ch. ix. 77 — 79. perhaps, that the writer's opinion 80 Ch. ix. 74. and the actual practice were at 81 Ch. ix. 76. Culluca in his Com- variance. The opinion against such mentary, adds, " after those terms marriages prevails in modern times, she must folio whim"; but the code and must have done so to a great seems rather to refer to the term at extent in that of Culluca. which she may contract a second 82 Ch. ix. 59 — 70. marriage. From the contradictions 83 Ch. ix. 104, 133. 38 HEIRS The son of his wife, begotten by a near kinsman, at some time when his own life had been despaired of, according to the practice formerly noticed 84 (which, though disapproved of as heretical, would appear to be recognized when it has actually taken place), is also entitled to inherit as a son.85 On the failure of issue of the above description, an adopted son succeeds : such a son loses all claim on the inheritance of his original father ; and is entitled to a sixth of the property of his adoptive one, even if, subsequently to his adoption, sons of the body should be born.86 On failure of the above heirs follow ten descriptions of sons, such as never could have been thought of but by Hindus, with whom the importance of a descendant for the purpose of per- forming obsequies is superior to most considerations. Among these are included the son of a man's wife by an uncertain father, begotten when he himself has long been absent, and the son of his wife of whom she was pregnant, without his know- ledge, at the time of the marriage. The illegitimate son of his daughter by a man whom she afterwards marries, the son of a man by a married woman who has forsaken her husband, or by a widow, are also admitted into this class ; as are, last of all, his own sons by a Sudra wife.87 These and others (ten in all) are admitted, by a fiction of the law, to be sons, though the author of the code himself speaks contemptuously of the affiliation, even as affording the means of efficacious obsequies.88 On the failure of sons come brothers' sons, who are regarded as standing in the place of sons, and who have a right to be adopted, if they wish it, to the exclusion of all other persons.89 On failure of sons, grandsons, adopted sons, and nephews, come fathers and mothers ; then brothers, grandfathers, and grandmothers ; 90 and then other relations, such as are entitled to perform obsequies to common ancestors ; failing them, the preceptor, the fellow-student, or the pupil ; and failing them, the Bramins in general ; or, in case the deceased be of another class, the king.91 4 Ch. ix. 59, etc. adopted sons, are entirely repudiated 85 Ch. ix. 145. Perhaps this re- by the Hindu law of the present day. cognition is intended to be confined 88 Ch. ix. 161. to the son of a Sudra wife, in whom 89 Ch. ix. 182. such a proceeding would be legal ; 90 Ch. ix. 185, 217. but it is not so specified in the text, 91 Ch. ix. 180 — 489. The depen- and the language of the code on this dence of inheritance on obsequies whole subject is contradictory. The leads to some remarkable rules. practice is at the present day entirely The first sort of obsequies are only forbidden to all classes. performed to the father, grandfather, 86 Ch. ix. 141, 142, 168, 169. and great-grandfather. Preference 87 Ch. ix. 159—161, 167—180. is given to those who perform ob- The whole of these sons, except the sequies to all three ; then to those soi} of a man's own body, and his who perform them to two, then to I. 3 DISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTY 39 A father may distribute his wealth among his sons, while he lives (it is not stated whether arbitrarily or in fixed propor- tions), but his power to make a will is never alluded to.81 When a man dies, his sons may either continue to live together with the property united, or they may divide it ac- cording to certain rules. If they remain united, the eldest brother takes possession of the property, and the others live under him as they did under their father. In this case, the acquisitions of all the sons (who have not formally withdrawn) go to augment the common stock.93 If they divide, one- twentieth is set aside for the eldest son, one-eightieth for the youngest, and one-fortieth for the inter- mediate sons ; the remainder is then equally divided among them all. Unmarried daughters are to be supported by their brothers, and receive no share of the father's estate ; 94 but share equally with their brothers in that of their mother.95 This equality among the sons is in case of brothers of equal birth ; but otherwise the son of a Bramin wife takes four parts ; of a Cshatriya, three ; a Veisya, two ; and a Sudra, one. One such share, or one-tenth, is the most the son of a Sudra mother can take, even if there are no other sons.96 Eunuchs, outcasts, persons born deaf, dumb or blind ; persons who have lost the use of a limb, madmen, and idiots, are excluded from succession, but must be maintained by the heirs. The sons of excluded persons, however, are capable of inheriting/ 97 one. Those who perform obsequies valid claim to succeed. A man can- to none of the three are passed over. not will that a stranger shall perform A great-great-grandson, by this rule, his family rites in preference to his would be set aside, and the succession kinsmen, and cannot, therefore, go to some collateral who was within make away with property essential three degrees of the great-grand- to their celebration." Wilson, note father. After those who perform the to Mill, i. p. 250. — ED.] first sort of obsequies come the more 93 Ch. ix. 103 — 105. There are numerous body, who only perform exceptions to this rule ; but it is the second. — Oriental Magazine, vol. still so effective that, in recent times, iii. p. 179. Colebrooke's Digest the humble relations of a man who vol. iii. p. 623. had raised himself to be prime 92 Ch. ix. 104. Even the power minister to the Peshwa, were ad- to distribute rests only on the au- mitted to be entitled to share in his thority of Culluca. ["In ancestral immense property, which they so property the occupant had joint right little contributed to acquire, only with his sons, analogously in 94 Ch. ix. 112 — 118. 95 Ch. ix. 192. some respects to our entailed estates. 96 Ch. ix. 151 — 155. In these One of the great objects of the descent rules, throughout the code, great of property is to provide for the per- confusion is created by preference petual performance of obsequial rites shown to sons and others, who are to the whole body of deceased an- " learned and virtuous " ; no person cestors. These cannot be properly being specified who is to decide on discharged by aliens to the family, their claims to those qualities, and therefore they cannot have a 97 Ch, ix. 201 — 203. 40 THE VEDAS CHAPTER IV RELIGION Monotheism — Religion of Menu — Creation — Inferior deities — Spirits — Man — Ritual observances — Moral effect. THE religion taught in the Institutes is derived from the Vedas, to which scriptures they refer in every page.1 There are four Vedas, but the fourth is rejected by many of the learned Hindus, and the number reduced to three. Each Veda is composed of two, or perhaps of three, parts. The first 2 consists of hymns and prayers ; the second part 3 of precepts which inculcate religious duties, and of arguments relating to theology.4 Some of these last are embodied in separate tracts, which are sometimes inserted in the second part above mentioned, and sometimes are in a detached collec- tion, forming a third part.5 Every Veda likewise contains a treatise explaining the adjustment of the calendar, for the purpose of fixing the proper period for the performance of each of the duties enjoined. The Vedas are not single works ; each is the production of various authors, whose names (in the case of hymns and prayers at least) are attached to their compositions, and to whom, according to the Hindus, those passages were separately re- vealed. They were probably written at different periods ; but were compiled in their present form in the 14th century before Christ.6 They are written in an ancient form of the Sanscrit, so different from that now in use that none but the more learned of the Bramins themselves can understand them. Only a small portion of them has been translated into European languages ; and although we possess a summary of their contents (by a writer whose judgment and fidelity may be entirely depended on 7) sufficient to give us a clear notion of the general scope of their doctrines, yet it does not enable us to speak with con- fidence of particulars, or to assert that no allusion whatever is made in any part of them to this or that portion of the legends or opinions which constitute the body of the modern Hindu faith. 1 [Since Elphinstone's history was 2 Called Mantra. 3 Brahmaiia. written, so much progress has been 4 Colebrooke, Asiatic Researches, made in the study of the Vedas, that vol. viii. p. 387. the account given in the text is 5 Upanishad. necessarily very incomplete. For 6 See Appendix I. some further information, see the 7 Mr. Colebrooke, Asiatic Eesear- Additional Appendix (vn.). — ED.] ches, vol. viii. p. 369. I. 4 THE SUPREME BEING 41 The primary doctrine of the Vedas is the Unity of God. " There is in truth," say repeated texts, " but one Deity, the Supreme Spirit, the Lord of the Universe, whose work is the Universe." 8 Among the creatures of the Supreme Being are some superior to man, who should be adored, and from whom protection and favours may be obtained through prayer. The most frequently mentioned of these are the gods of the elements, the stars, and the planets ; but other personified powers and virtues likewise appear. The three principal manifestations of the Divinity (Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva), with other personified attributes and energies, and most of the other gods of Hindu mythology, are indeed mentioned, or at least indicated, in the Veda ; but the worship of deified heroes is no part of the system.9 Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, are rarely named, enjoy no pre- eminence, nor are they ever objects of special adoration ; 10 and Mr. Colebrooke could discover no passage in which their incarnations were suggested. There seem to have been no images, and no visible types of the objects of worship.11 The doctrine of Monotheism prevails throughout the Insti- tutes ; and it is declared towards the close, that, of all duties, ' the principal is to obtain from the Upanishad a true know- ledge of one supreme God." 12 But although Menu has preserved the idea of the unity of God, his opinions on the nature and operations of the Divinity have fallen off from the purity of their original. This is chiefly apparent in his account of the creation. There are passages in the Vedas which declare that God is ' the material, as well as the efficient, cause of the universe ; the potter by whom the fictile vase is formed ; the clay out of which it is fabricated : ': yet those best qualified to interpret conceive that these expressions are not to be taken literally, and mean no more than to assert the origin of all things from the same first cause. The general tendency of the Vedas is to 8 Prof. Wilson, Oxford Lectures, ears, all-hearing ; without an intelli- p. 11. The following view of the gent guide, understanding all; with- divine character, as presented in the out cause, the first of all causes ; all- Vedas, is given by a learned Bramin, ruling ; all-powerful ; the creator, quoted by Sir William Jones. — " Per- preserver, transformer of all things : feet truth ; perfect happiness ; with- such is the Great One." — Sir W. out equal ; immortal ; absolute Jones's Works, vol. vi. p. 418. unity ; whom neither speech can 9 Colebrooke on the Vedas, Asiatic describe nor mind comprehend ; all- Researches, vol. viii. p. 494. pervading ; all-transcending ; de- 10 Prof. Wilson, Oxford Lectures, lighted with his own boundless in- p. 12. telligence ; not limited by space or n Ibid., p. 12 ; and see also Preface time ; without feet, moving swiftly ; to the Vishnu Purana, p. 2. without hands, grasping all worlds ; 12 Ch. xii. 85. without eyes, all-surveying ; without 42 THE INFERIOR DEITIES show that the substance as well as the form of all created beings was derived from the will of the Self-existing Cause.13 The Institutes, on the contrary, though not very distinct, appear to regard the universe as formed from the substance of the Creator, and to have a vague notion of the eternal existence of matter as part of the Divine substance. According to them, " the Self -existing Power, himself undiscerned, but making this world discernible, with five elements and other principles, appeared with undiminished glory dispelling the gloom." " He, having willed to produce various beings from his own Divine substance, first with a thought created the waters, and placed in them a productive seed." 14 From this seed sprang the mundane egg, in \vhich the Supreme Being was himself born in the form of Brahma. By similar mythological processes, he, under the form of Brahma, produced the heavens and earth, and the human soul ; and to all creatures he gave distinct names and distinct occupations. He likewise created the deities, ' with divine attributes and pure souls," and ' inferior genii exquisitely delicate." 15 This whole creation only endures for a certain period ; when that expires, the Divine energy is withdrawn, Brahma is absorbed in the supreme essence, and the whole system fades away.16 These extinctions of creation, with corresponding revivals, occur periodically, at terms of prodigious length.17 The inferior deities are representatives of the elements : as Indra, air ; Agni, fire ; Varuna, water ; Prithivi, earth ; or of heavenly bodies, Surya, the sun ; Chandra, the moon ; Vrihispati and other planets : or of abstract ideas, as Dharma, god of Justice ; Dhanwantari, god of Medicine.18 None of the heroes who are omitted in the Veda, but who now fill so promi- nent a part in the Hindu Pantheon (Rama, Crishna, etc.) are ever alluded to. Even the deities of which these are incarnations are never noticed. Brahma is more than once named, but Vishnu and Siva never. These three forms of the Divinity occupy no conspicuous place among the deities of the Vedas ; and their mystical union or triad is never hinted at in Menu, or probably in the Vedas. The three forms, into some one of which all other deities are there said to be resolvable, are fire, air, and the sun.19 13 Wilson, Oxford Lectures, p. 48. 18 Ch. ix. 303—311, and other u Ch. i. 5, 7. 13 Ch. i. 8—22. places. 16 Ch. i. 51 — 57. 19 Colebrooke, Asiatic Researches 17 Ch. i, 73, 74. vol. viii. 395—397. I. 4 RITUAL OBSERVANCES 43 Altogether distinct from the gods are good and evil genii, who are noticed in the creation rather among the animals than the divinities. " Benevolent genii, fierce giants, bloodthirsty savages, heavenly choristers, nymphs and demons, huge ser- pents and birds of mighty wing, and separate companies of Pitris, or progenitors of mankind." 20 Man is endowed with two internal spirits — the vital soul, which gives motion to the body, and the rational, which is the seat of passions and good and bad qualities ; and both these souls, though independent existences, are connected with the divine essence which pervades all beings.21 It is the vital soul which expiates the sins of the man. It is subjected to torments for periods proportioned to its offences, and is then sent to transmigrate through men and animals, and even plants ; the mansion being the lower the greater has been its guilt, until at length it has been purified by suffering and humiliations, is again united to its more pure associates,22 and again commences a career which may lead to eternal bliss. God endowed man from his creation with " consciousness, the internal monitor ; ' 23 and " made a total difference be- tween right and wrong," as well as between pleasure and pain and other opposite pairs.24 He then produced the Vedas for the due performance of the sacrifice ordained from the beginning. But it does not seem necessary to enter further into the metaphysical part of the work of Menu. The practical part of religion may be divided into ritual and moral. The ritual branch occupies too great a portion of the Hindu code, but not to the exclusion of the moral. There are religious ceremonies during the pregnancy of the mother, at the birth of the child, and on various subsequent occasions, the principal of which is the shaving of his head, all but one lock, at the first or third year.25 But by far the most important ceremonial is the investiture with the sacred thread, which must not be delayed beyond 16 for a Bramin, or 24 for a merchant.26 This great ceremony is called the second birth, and procures for the three classes who are ad- mitted to it the title of " twice-born men," by which they are always distinguished throughout the code. It is on this occa- sion that the persons invested are taught the mysterious word 6m, and the gayatri, which is the most holy verse of the Vedas, which is enjoined in innumerable parts of the code to be 20 Ch. i. 37. 23 Ch. i. 14. 24 Ch. i. 26. 21 Ch. i. 14, 15, and 12—14, 24, etc. * Ch. ii. 26—35. 22 Ch. xii. 16—22, 26 Ch. ii. 36—40. 44 SACRAMENTS repeated either as devotion or expiation ; and which, indeed, joined to universal benevolence, may raise a man to beatitude without the aid of any other religious exercise.27 This mys- terious text, though it is now confined to the Bramins, and is no longer so easy to learn, has been well ascertained by learned Europeans, and is thus translated by Mr. Colebrooke : 2 :' Let us meditate the adorable light of the Divine Ruler ; may it guide our intellects." From fuller forms of the same verse, it is evident that the light alluded to is the Supreme Creator, though it might also appear to mean the sun. It is not easy to see on what its superior sanctity is founded, unless it may at one time have communicated, though in am- biguous language, the secret of the real nature of God to the initiated, when the material sun was the popular object of worship.29 Every Bramin, and, perhaps, every twice-born man, must bathe daily ; must pray at morning and evening twilight, in some unfrequented place near pure water ; 30 and must daily perform five sacraments : viz., studying the Veda ; making oblations to the manes and to fire in honour of the deities ; giving rice to living creatures ; and receiving guests with honour.31 The gods are worshipped by burnt offerings of clarified butter, and libations of the juice of the Soma or moon-plant, at which ceremonies they are invoked by name ; but, although idols are mentioned, and in one place desired to be respected,32 yet the adoration of them is never noticed but with disapproba- tion ; nor is the present practice of offering perfumes and flowers to them ever alluded to. The oblations enjoined are to be offered by Bramins at their domestic fire, and the other cere- monies performed by themselves in their own houses.33 Most of the other sacraments are easily despatched, but the reading of the Vedas is a serious task. They must be read distinctly and aloud, with a calm mind, and in a respectful posture. The reading is liable to be inter- 27 Ch. ii. 74 — 87. translation by Ram Mohan Rai 28 Asiatic Researches, vol. viii. p. (Translation of the Vedas, p. 117) : — 400. " We meditate on that supreme spirit 29 There are many commentaries of the splendid sun who directs our on this text, and some difference of understandings." — [The gayatri oc- opinion as to the sense. The follow- curs in a hymn of Viswamitra's, ing interpretaiton is given by Pro- numbered as the 62nd of the third fessor Wilson, in a note in the Hindu Mandala of the Rig Veda, see Wilson's Theatre, vol. i. p. 184 ; — " Let us transl. of the Rig Veda, vol. iii. p. meditate on the supreme splendour 110. — ED.] 30 Ch. ii. 101 — 104. of that divine sun, who may illumin- 31 Ch. iii. 69, 70. ate our understandings." And the 32 Ch. iv. 130. following is published as a literal 33 Ch. iii. 82, etc. I. 4 OBSEQUIES 45 rupted by many omens, and must be suspended likewise on the occurrence of various contingencies which, by disturbing the mind, may render it unfit for such an occupation. Wind, rain, thunder, earthquakes, meteors, eclipses, the howling of jackals, and many other incidents, are of the first description : the prohibition against reading where lutes sound or where arrows whistle, when a town is beset by robbers, or when terrors have been excited by strange phenomena, clearly refers to the second.34 The last sacrament, that of hospitality to guests, is treated at length, and contains precepts of politeness and self-denial which would be very pleasing if they were not so much re- stricted to Bramins entertaining men of their own class.35 Besides the daily oblations, there are monthly obsequies to the manes of each man's ancestors. These are to be performed " in empty glades, naturally clean, or on the banks of rivers and in solitary spots." The sacrificer is there to burn certain offerings, and, with many ceremonies, to set down cakes of rice and clarified butter, invoking the manes to come and partake of them. He is afterwards to feed a small number of Bramins (not, however, his usual friends or guests). He is to serve them with respect, and they are to eat in silence. " Departed ancestors, no doubt, are attendant on such invited Bramins, hovering around them like pure spirits and sitting by them when they are seated." 36 No obsequies are to be performed for persons of disreputable or criminal life, or for those who illegally kill themselves ; 37 but, on the other hand, there is a striking ceremony by which a great offender is renounced by his family, his obsequies being solemnly performed by them while he is yet alive. In the event of repentance and expiation, however, he can by another ceremony be restored to his family and to civil life.38 Innumerable are the articles of food from which a twice-born man must abstain ; some for plain reasons, as carnivorous birds, tame hogs, and other animals whose appearance or way of living is disgusting ; but others are so arbitrarily fixed, that a cock, a mushroom, a leek, or an onion, occasions immediate loss of cast ; 39 while hedgehogs, porcupines, lizards, and tor- toises are expressly declared to be lawful food. A Bramin is forbidden, under severe penalties, to eat the food of a hunter or a dishonest man, a worker in gold or in cane, or a washer of clothes, or a dyer. The cruelty of a hunter's trade may join him, in the eyes of a Bramin, to a dishonest man ; but, among 34 Ch. iv. 99—126. 35 Ch. iii. 99—118. 36 Ch. iii. 189. 37 Ch. v. 89. 38 Ch. xi. 182—187. 39 Ch. v. 18, 19. 46 PURIFICATION many other arbitrary proscriptions, one is surprised to find a physician,40 and to observe that this learned and beneficent profession is always classed with those which are most impure. What chiefly surprises us is to find most sorts of flesh per- mitted to Bramins,41 and even that of oxen particularly enjoined on solemn festivals.42 Bramins must not, indeed, eat flesh, unless at a sacrifice ; but sacrifices, as has been seen, are among the daily sacra- ments ; and rice-pudding, bread, and many other things equally innocent, are included in the very same prohibition.43 It is true that humanity to animals is everywhere most strongly inculcated, and that abstaining from animal food is declared to be very meritorious, from its tendency to diminish their sufferings ; but, though the use of it is dissuaded on these grounds,44 it is never once forbidden or hinted at as impure, and is in many places positively declared lawful.45 The permission to eat beef is the more remarkable as the cow seems to have been as holy in those days as she is now. Saving the life of a cow was considered to atone for the murder of a Bramin ; 46 killing one required to be expiated by three months' austerities and servile attendance on a herd of cattle.47 Besides these restraints on eating, a Bramin is subjected to a multitude of minute regulations relating to the most ordinary occupations of life, the transgressing of any of which is nevertheless to be considered as a sin. More than half of one book of the code is filled with rules about purification. The commonest cause of impurity is the death of a relation ; and this, if he is near, lasts for ten days with a Bramin, and for a month with a Sudra. An infinity of contacts and other circumstances also pollute a man, and he is only purified by bathing, and other ceremonies, much too tedious to enumerate.48 Some exceptions from these rules show a good sense which might not have been expected from the framers. A king can never be impure, nor those whom he wishes to be freed from this impediment to business. The hand of an artist employed in his trade is always pure ; and so is every commodity when exposed to sale. The relations of a soldier slain in battle are not impure ; and a soldier himself, who falls in the discharge of his duty, performs the highest of sacrifices, and is instantly freed from all impurities.49 Of all 40 Ch. iv. 212. 41 Ch. v. 22—36. which may be eaten, and those who 42 Ch. v. 41, 42. 43 Ch. v. 7. eat them, were equally created by 4 Ch. v. 43—56. Brahma." (V. 30.) 45 " He who eats according to law 46 Ch. xi. 80. commits no sin, even if he every day 47 Ch. xi. 109 — 117. tastes the flesh of such animals as may 48 Ch. v. 57 to the end. lawfully be tasted, since both animals 49 Ch. v. 93 — 98, I. 4 PENANCE 47 pure things, none impart that quality better than purity in ac- quiring wealth, forgiveness of injuries, liberality, and devotion.50 Penances, as employed by the Hindus, hold a middle place between the ritual and moral branches of religion. They help to deter from crimes, but they are equally employed against breaches of religious form ; and their application is at all times so irregular and arbitrary as to prevent their being so effectual as they should be in contributing to the well-being of society. Drinking spirits is classed in the first degree of crime. Performing sacrifices to destroy the innocent only falls under the third. Under the same penance with some real offences come giving pain to a Bramin and " smelling things not fit to be smelled." 51 Some penances would, if compulsory, be punishments of the most atrocious cruelty. They are sufficiently absurd when left, as they are, to the will of the offenders, to be employed in averting exclusion from society in this world or retribution in the next. For incest with the wife of a father, natural or spiritual, or with a sister, connexion with a child under the age of puberty, or with a woman of the lowest class, the penance is death by burning on an iron bed, or embracing a red-hot metal image.52 For drinking spirits the penance is death by drinking the boiling-hot urine of a cow.53 The other expiations are mostly made by fines and austeri- ties. The fines are almost always in cattle to be given to Bramins, some as high as a bull and 1,000 cows. They, also, are oddly enough proportioned : for killing a snake a Bramin must give a hoe ; for killing a eunuch, a load of rice-straw. Saying " hush " or " pish " to a superior, or overpowering a Bramin in argument, involves each a slight penance. Killing insects, and even cutting down plants and grass (if not for a useful purpose), require a penance ; since plants are also supposed to be endued with feeling.54 One passage about expiation is characteristic in many ways. " A priest who should retain in his memory the whole Rig Veda would be absolved from all guilt, even if he had slain the in- habitants of the three worlds, and had eaten food from the foulest hands." 55 Some of the penances, as well as some of the punishments under the criminal law, relate to pollutions which imply great corruption of manners in the people, or great impurity in the imagination of the lawgiver ; 56 but they probably originate in 50 Ch. v. 107. 51 Ch. xi. 55—68. 52 Ch. xi. 104, 105, 171. 53 Ch. xi. 92. s4 Ch. xi. 125 to the end. K Ch. xi. 262. 56 Ch. xi. 171—179, etc. 48 GENERAL TENDENCIES OF THE CODE the same perverted ingenuity which appears in some of the European casuists. Others are of a more pleasing character, and tend to lessen our impression of the force of superstition even among the Bramins. A man who spends his money in gifts, even for his spiritual benefit, incurs misery hereafter if he have left his family in want.57 Every man who has performed penance is legally restored to society ; but all should avoid the com- munion of those whose offences were in themselves atrocious, among which are reckoned killing a suppliant and injuring a benefactor.38 The effect of the religion of Menu on morals is, indeed, generally good. The essential distinction between right and wrong, it has been seen, is strongly marked at the outset, and is in general well preserved. The well-known passages relating to false evidence, one or two where the property of another may be appropriated for the purposes of sacrifice,59 and some laxity in the means by which a king may detect and seize offenders,60 are the only exceptions I recollect. On the other hand there are numerous injunctions to justice, truth, and virtue ; and many are the evils, both in this world and the next, which are said to follow from vicious conduct. The upright man need not be cast down though oppressed with penury, while " the unjust man attains no felicity, nor he whose wealth proceeds from false evidence." 61 The moral duties are in one place distinctly declared to be superior to the ceremonial ones.62 The punishments of a future state are as much directed against the offences which disturb society as against sins affecting religion. One maxim, however, on this subject, is of a less laudable tendency ; for it declares that the men who receive from the government the punishment due to their crimes go pure to heaven, and become as clean as those who have done well.63 It may be observed, in conclusion, that the morality thus enjoined by the law was not, as now, sapped by the example of fabled gods, or by the debauchery permitted in the religious ceremonies of certain sects. From many passages cited in certain places, it has been shown that the code is not by any means deficient in generous maxims or in elevated sentiments ; but the general tendency of the Bramin morality is rather towards innocence than active virtue, and its main objects are to enjoy tranquillity, and to prevent pain or evil to any sentient being. 57 Ch. ix. 9, 10. C8 Ch. xi. 190, 191. 69 Ch. xi. 11—19. 60 Ch. ix.^256— 269. 61 Ch. iv. 170—179. 62 Ch. iv. 204. 63 Ch. viii. 318. I. 5 THE STATE OF WOMEN 49 CHAPTER V MANNERS AND STATE OF CIVILIZATION State of women — Manners — Arts of life — General remarks — Origin of the Hindus and formation of their society — Peculiarities relating to the Bramins. IN inquiring into the manners of a nation, our attention is first attracted to the condition of the women. This may be gathered from the laws relating to marriage, as well as from incidental regulations or observations which undesignedly exhibit the views under which the sex was regarded. The laws relating to marriage, as has been seen, though in some parts they bear strong traces of a rude age, are not on the whole unfavourable to the weaker party. The state of women in other respects is such as might be expected from those laws. A wife is to be entirely obedient and devoted to her husband, who is to keep her under legal restrictions, but to leave her at her own disposal in innocent and lawful recreations.1 When she has no husband, she is to be in a similar state of dependence on her male relations ; 2 but, on the other hand, the husband and all the male relations are strictly enjoined to honour the women : ' where women are dishonoured, all religious acts become fruitless ; ' ' where female relations are made miser- able, the family very soon wholly perishes ; ' but " where a husband is contented with his wife, and she with her husband, in that house will fortune assuredly be permanent." The husband's indulgence to his wife is even regulated on points which seem singular in a code of laws ; among these it is en- joined that she be ;' constantly supplied with ornaments, apparel, and food, at festivals and jubilees." 3 Widows are also under the particular protection of the law. Their male relations are positively forbidden to interfere with their property. (III. 52.) The king is declared the guardian of widows and single women, and is directed to punish relations who encroach on their fortunes, as thieves. (VIII. 28, 29.) There is little about domestic manners except as relates to the Bramins ; and they, as usual, are placed under austere and yet puerile restrictions. A man of that class must not eat with his wife, nor look at her eating, or yawning, or sitting care- lessly, or when setting off her eyes with black powder, or on many other occasions.4 In all classes women are to be " employed in the collection 1 Ch. ix. 2, etc. 2 ch. v. 147, etc. 3 Ch. iii. 55—61. * Ch. iv. 43, etc. E 50 WIDOWS AND SATI and expenditure of wealth ; in purification and female duty ; in the preparation of daily food, and the superintendence of household utensils." " By confinement at home, even under affectionate and observant guardians, they are not secure ; but those women are truly secure who are guarded by their own inclinations." 5 There is not the least mention of Satis ; indeed, as the widows of Bramins are enjoined to lead a virtuous, austere, and holy life,6 it is plain that their burning with their husbands was never thought of. The only suicides authorised in the code are for a Bramin hermit suffering under an incurable disease, who is permitted to proceed towards a certain point of the heavens with no sustenance but water, until he dies of exhaustion ; 7 and for a king, who, when he finds his end draw near, is to bestow such wealth as he may have gained by legal fines on the Bramins, commit his kingdom to his son, and seek death in battle, or, if there be no war, by abstaining from food.8 Few more particulars can be gleaned regarding manners. The strict celibacy imposed on the Bramin youths seems to have excited a just distrust of their continence : a student who is enjoined to perform personal services, and to kiss the feet of his spiritual father's other near relations, is directed to omit those duties in the case of his young wife ; he is desired to be always on his guard when in company with women, and to beware how he trusts himself in a sequestered place even with those who should be the most sacred in his eyes.9 Some notion of the pleasures most indulged in may be 5 Ch. ix. 11, 12. thus : " May these women who are 6 Ch. v. 156 — 158. not widows, who have good husbands, 7 Ch. vi. 31. who are mothers, enter with unguents 8 Ch. ix. 323. It is singular that and clarified butter ; without tears, the practice of self-immolation by without sorrow, let them first go up fire, which is stated by Mr. Colebrooke into the dwelling." It is these last (Transactions of the Royal Asiatic words, " drohantu yonim agre," which Society, vol. i. p. 458) to have been have been altered into the fatal var- authorised by the Vedas, and is re- iant " drohantu yonim agneli" " let lated by the ancients to have been them go up into the place of fire ; " practised by Calanus, is nowhere but there is no authority whatever mentioned in the code. — [Mr. Cole- for this reading. The verse, in fact, brooke, in As. Res,, vol. iv. p. 213, is not addressed to widows at all. A quoted from modern Hindu works succeeding verse in the same hymn, the verse of a Vedic hymn which has which was addressed to the widow at been supposed to authorize Sati ; it the funeral, expressly bids her " to is found in the second hymn of the rise up and come to the world of second Anuvaka of the tenth Mandala living beings," and the ceremonial of the Rig Veda. But the careful Sutras direct that she is then to be editing of the text by European scho- taken home. See Prof. Wilson, R. larship has disclosed the fact that no As. Soc. Journ., vol. xvi. p. 203. — such authority exists in the original ED.] text. The Sanskrit runs simply 9 Ch. ii. 211 — 215. I. 5 RESPECT FOR IMMEMORIAL CUSTOM 51 formed from those against which a king is cautioned. (VII. 47.) Among them are hunting, gaming, sleeping by day, ex- cess with women, intoxication, singing, instrumental music, dancing, and useless travel. Some little light is also thrown on manners, by the much-frequented places where thieves, quacks, fortune-tellers, and other impostors are said to haunt. They include cisterns of water, bakehouses, the lodgings of harlots, taverns, and victualling shops, squares where four ways meet, large well-known trees, assemblies, and public spectacles. Minute rules are given for the forms of salutation and civility to persons of all classes, and in all relations. Great respect is inculcated for parents 10 and for age ; for learning and moral conduct, as well as for wealth and rank. ' Way must be made for a man in a wheeled carriage, or above ninety years old, or afflicted with disease, or carrying a burden, for a woman, for a priest (in certain cases), for a prince, and for a bridegroom." n I scarcely know where to place, so as to do justice to the importance assigned to it in the code, the respect enjoined to immemorial custom. It is declared to be " transcendent law," and " the root of all piety." 12 It is, indeed, to this day the vital spirit of the Hindu system, and the immediate cause of the permanence of these institutions. Learning is greatly honoured throughout the code, and the cultivation of it is recommended to all classes. It is true the Vedas, and the commentaries on them, with a few other books, are the only ones to which the student is directed ; but he is to learn theo- logy, logic, ethics, and physical science from those works ; l: and we know that those subjects are discussed in the tracts appended to each Veda ; each is also accompanied by a treatise entirely relating to astronomy ; and, from the early excellence of the Bramins in all these branches of learning, it is probable that they had made considerable progress even when this code was formed. The arts of life, though still in a simple state, were far from being in a rude one. Gold and gems, silks and ornaments, are spoken of as being in all families.14 Elephants, horses, and chariots are familiar as conveyances for men, as are cattle, camels, and waggons for goods. Gardens, bowers, and ter- races are mentioned ; and the practice, still subsisting, of the construction of ponds and orchards by wealthy men for the public benefit, is here, perhaps, first enjoined.15 Cities are seldom alluded to, nor are there any regulations or any officers 10 Ch. ii. 225—237. " Ch. ii. 130—138. 12 Ch. i. 108—110. 13 Ch. xii. 98, 105, 106. 14 Ch. v. 1 11, 112, and vii. 130. 15 Ch. iv. 226. 52 . THE EARLY HINDUS beyond the wants of an agricultural township. The only great cities were, probably, the capitals. The professions mentioned show all that is necessary to civilized life, but not all required for high refinement. Though gems and golden ornaments were common, embroiderers and similar workmen, who put those materials to the most delicate uses, are not alluded to ; and painting and writing could scarcely have attained the cultivation which they reached in after times, when they were left among the trades open to a Sudra in times of distress. Money is often mentioned, but it does not appear whether its value was ascertained by weight or fixed by coining. The usual payments are in panas, the name now applied to a certain number of the shells called couris, which are used as change for the lowest copper coins.16 The number of kinds of grain, spices, perfumes, and other productions, are proofs of a highly cultivated country ; and the code in general presents the picture of a peaceful and flourishing community. Some of the features which seem to indicate misgovernment are undiminished at the present day, but affect the society in a far less degree than would seem possible to a distant observer. On the other hand, the frequent allusions to times of distress give ground for a suspicion that the famines, which even now are sometimes the scourge of India, were more frequent in ancient times. There is no trace of nomadic tribes, such as still subsist in most Asiatic countries. Of all ancient nations, the Egyptians are the one whom the Hindus seem most to have resembled ; but our knowledge of that people is too limited to reflect light on any other with which they might be compared.17 It might be easier to compare them with the Greeks, as painted by Homer, who was nearly contemporary with the compilation of the code ; and however inferior in spirit and energy, as well as in elegance, to that heroic race, yet, on con- trasting their law and forms of administration, the state of the arts of life, and the general spirit of order and obedience to the laws, the eastern nation seems clearly to have been in the more advanced stage of society. Their internal institutions were less rude ; their conduct to their enemies more humane ; their general learning was much more considerable ; and, in the knowledge of the being and nature of God, they were already in possession of a light which was but faintly perceived even 16 [Prof. Wilson, Ariana Ant., p. blance are set forth by Heeren. — His- 403, seems to think that the pana torical Researches (Asiatic Nations), may have been a copper coin. — ED.] vol. iii. p. 411 to the end. 17 The particular points of resem- I. 5 PRIVILEGES OF THE TWICE-BORN 53 by the loftiest intellects in the best days of Athens. Yet the Greeks were polished by free communication with many nations, and have recorded the improvements which they early derived from each ; while the Hindu civilization grew up alone, and thus acquired an original and peculiar character, that continues to spread an interest over the higher stages of re- finement to which its unaided efforts afterwards enabled it to attain. It may, however, be doubted whether this early and independent civilization was not a misfortune to the Hindus ; for, seeing themselves superior to all the tribes of whom they had knowledge, they learned to despise the institutions of foreigners, and to revere their own, until they became incapable of receiving improvement from without, and averse to novelties even amongst themselves. On looking back to the information collected from the code we observe the three twice-born classes forming the whole community embraced by the law, and the Sudras in a servile and degraded condition. Yet it appears that there are cities governed by Sudra kings, in which Bramins are advised not to reside,18 and that there are " whole territories inhabited by Sudras, overwhelmed with atheists, and deprived of Bramins." The three twice-born classes are directed invariably to dwell in the country between the Himavat 20 and the Vindhya moun- tains,21 from the eastern to the western ocean. But, though the three chief classes are confined to this tract, a Sudra dis- tressed for subsistence may sojourn wherever he chooses.22 It seems impossible not to conclude from all this, that the twice-born men were a conquering people ; that the servile class were the subdued aborigines ; and that the independent Sudra towns were in such of the small territories, into which Hindostan was divided, as still retained their independence, while the whole of the tract beyond the Vindhya mountains remained as yet untouched by the invaders, and unpenetrated by their religion. A doubt, however, soon suggests itself, whether the con- querors were a foreign people, or a local tribe, like the Dorians in Greece ; or whether, indeed, they were not merely a portion of one of the native states (a religious sect, for instance) which had outstripped their fellow-citizens in knowledge, and appro- priated all the advantages of the society to themselves. The different appearance of the higher classes from the Sudras, which is so observable to this day, might incline us to 18 Ch. iv. 61. the south, as Himalaya does on the 19 Ch. viii. 22. north, the legislator must have had 20 Himalaya. an indistinct idea of the eastern tor- 21 Still so called, and forming the mination of the range, boundaries of Hindostan proper, on 22 Ch. ii. 21—24. 54 THE CRADLE OF THE HINDtfS think them foreigners ; but, without entirely denying this argument (as far, at least, as relates to the Bramins and Cshatriyas), we must advert to some considerations which greatly weaken its force. The class most unlike the Bramins are the Chandalas, who are, nevertheless, originally the offspring of a Bramin mother ; and who might have been expected to have preserved their resemblance to their parent stock, as, from the very lowness of their cast, they are prevented mixing with any race but their own. Difference of habits and employments is, of itself, sufficient to create as great a dissimilarity as exists between the Bramin and the Sudra ; and the hereditary separation of professions in India would contribute to keep up and to increase such a distinction.23 It is opposed to their foreign origin, that neither in the code, nor, I believe, in the Vedas, nor in any book that is certainly older than the code, is there any allusion to a prior residence, or to a knowledge of more than the name of any country out of India. Even mythology goes no farther than the Himalaya chain, in which is fixed the habitation of the gods. The common origin of the Sanscrit language with those of the west leaves no doubt that there was once a connexion between the nations by whom they are used ; but it proves nothing regarding the place where such a connexion subsisted, nor about the time, which might have been in so early a stage of their society as to prevent its throwing any light on the history of the individual nations. To say that it spread from a central point is a gratuitous assumption, and even contrary to analogy ; for emigration and civilization have not spread in a circle, but from east to west. Where, also, could the central point be, from which a language could spread over India, Greece, and Italy, and yet leave Chaldea, Syria, and Arabia untouched ? The question, therefore, is still open.24 There is no reason whatever for thinking that the Hindus ever inhabited any country but their present one ; and as little for denying that they may have done so before the earliest trace of their records or traditions. Assuming them to be a conquering tribe, whether foreign or native, the institution of cast, and other Hindu peculiarities, may have arisen from their situation, without premeditation or design. On taking possession of a new settlement, the 23 Observe the difference which stance, and a man of the least active even a few years can produce between and healthy classes in a manufactur- two individuals, who were alike when ing town. they began life ; between a soldier of 24 [On this subject, see Additional a well-disciplined regiment, for in- Appendix. — ED.] I. 5 INFLUENCE OF THE PRIESTS 55 richer or more warlike members of the community would continue to confine themselves to the profession of arms, while the less eminent would betake themselves to agriculture, arts, and commerce. As in all rude tribes in the old or new world, there would be priests and soothsayers, who would pretend to a knowledge of the designs of the Supreme Being, and of the means of propitiating him ; but these would at first be indi- viduals possessed of more sagacity than their neighbours ; and though they might transmit their art to their sons, it would be some time before their number and power had so far increased as to enable them to confine the sacred character to particular families. The pride of the military order would prevent their degrading their blood by marriages with the industrious classes, —a feeling which long operated in many European nations as effectually as the rules of cast. The priests would not be left behind in this assumption of superiority, and would be borne out by the necessity of preserving the purity of a race conse- crated to the service of the deity. The conquered people, as in all similar cases, would remain a class apart, at first cultivating the land for the use of the conquerors, but afterwards converted by the interest or convenience of their masters into free tenants. So far, except for the separation of the priesthood, the progress of society would have been the same with the early stages of most nations in ancient times or in the middle ages. The first striking difference appears in the permanence of the Hindu institutions, which were fixed at a certain point, and admitted of no subsequent alteration or improvement. The origin of this stability seems to have lain in the union and consequent power of the priesthood, when once formed into a separate class, and in their close alliance with the secular ruler. The prince's laws came forth with the sanction of the Divinity, and perhaps as revelations from heaven : they, therefore, admitted of no dispute ; and, as they embraced religious as well as moral and civil duties, they took a complete control over the conduct and consciences of those subject to them, and cast the whole into a mould from which it could never after vary. To effect their purpose, the priests would invent the genealogy of casts and other fables calculated to support the existing institutions, or to introduce such alterations as they thought desirable ; and, while they raised the power of the chief to the highest pitch, they would secure as much influence to their own order as could be got without creating jealousy or destroying the ascendency which they derived from the public opinion of their austerity and virtue. The immediate causes of this powerful combination, and the particular means by which it was brought about, are beyond our powers of conjecture ; but if we suppose 56 THE CODE AND THE BRAMINS that the Catholic Church had been without a separate head at the time of its alliance with Charlemagne, and that the clergy, retaining their other restrictions, had been allowed to marry and bring up their progeny in their own profession, it is not difficult to imagine a course which would lead to the result which we see exemplified in the Hindus. It would be some time before the existing usages and the occasional regulations of the prince came to be embodied in a code ; and afterwards alterations would be silently made to suit the changes in the progress of society or in the policy of the rulers : even new codes incorporating the old ones might long be framed without occasioning doubts of the Divine authority for the whole ; but at length the text of the code would become fixed, and all subsequent innovations would be effected by glosses on the original, or by new laws promulgated by the royal authority. To all appearance the present code was not compiled until long after the community had passed the earliest stages of civilization. - In making a general review of the code, we are struck with two peculiarities in its relation to the Bramins, by whom it seems to have been planned. The first is the little importance attached by them to the direction of public worship and re- ligious ceremonies of all sorts. Considering the reverence derived by the ministers of religion from their apparent media- tion between the laity and the Divinity, and also the power that might be obtained by means of oracles, and other modes of deception, it might rather have been expected that such means of influence should be neglected by the priesthood, in the security arising from long possession of temporal authority, than renounced in an early code, the main object of which is to confirm and increase the power of the Bramins. The effects of this neglect are also deserving of observation. It was natural that the degradation of public worship should introduce the indifference now so observable in the performance of it ; but it is surprising that the regular practice of it by all classes should still be kept up at all ; and that on some occa- sions, as pilgrimages, festivals, etc., it should be able to kindle enthusiasm. The second peculiarity is the regulation of all the actions of life, in a manner as strict and minute as could be enforced in a single convent, maintained over so numerous a body of men as the Bramins, scattered through an extensive region, living with their families like other citizens, and subject to no common chief or council, and to no form of ecclesiastical government, or subordination. Various causes contributed to support this I. 5 DECLINE OF THE BRAMIN DISCIPLINE 57 discipline, which, at first, seems to have been left to chance,— the superstitious reverence for the Divine law, which must in time have been felt even by the class whose progenitors in- vented it ; their strict system of early education ; the penances enjoined by religion, perhaps enforced by the aid of the civil authority ; the force of habit and public opinion after the rules had obtained the sanction of antiquity ; but, above all, the vigilance of the class itself, excited by a knowledge of the necessity of discipline for the preservation of their power, and by that intense feeling of the common interest of the class, which, never, perhaps, was so deeply seated as in the heart of a Bramin. In spite of these forces, however, the Bramin discipline has gradually declined. Their rules have been neglected in cases where the temptation was strong, or the risk of loss of influence not apparent, until the diminished sanctity of their character has weakened their power, and has thrown a considerable portion of it into the hands of men of other classes, who form the great body of the monastic orders. BOOK II CHANGES SINCE MENU, AND STATE OF THE HINDUS IN LATER TIMES THOUGH the Hindus have preserved their customs more entire than any other people with whom we are acquainted, and for a period exceeding that recorded of any other nation, yet it is not to be supposed that changes have not taken place in the lapse of twenty-five centuries. I shall now attempt to point out those changes ; and, although it may not always be possible to distinguish such of them as may be of Mahometan origin, I shall endeavour to confine my account to those features, whether in religion, government, or manners, which still characterize the Hindus. I shall preserve the same order as in the code, and shall commence with the present state of the classes. CHAPTER I CHANGES IN CAST Changes in the four great classes — Mixed classes — Monastic orders. IT is, perhaps, in the division and employment of the classes that the greatest alterations have been made since Menu. Those of Cshatriya and Veisya, perhaps even of Sudra, are alleged by the Bramins to be extinct ; a decision which is by no means acquiesced in by those immediately concerned. The Rajputs still loudly assert the purity of their descent from the Cshatriyas,* and some of the industrious classes claim the same relation to the Veisyas. The Bramins, however, have been almost universally successful, so far as to exclude the other classes from access to the Vedas, and to confine all learning, human and divine, to their own body. The Bramins themselves, although they have preserved their own lineage undisputed, have, in a great measure, de- parted from the rules and practices of their predecessors. In [* A late decision of the Privy Council has decided that the Kshatriya cast still exists among the Rajputs. See Co well's Tagore Law Lectures for 1870, p. 173.— ED.] 58 II. 1 CHANGES AMONG THE BRAMINS 59 some particulars they are more strict than formerly, being denied the use of animal food,1 and restrained from inter- marriages with the inferior classes ; but in most respects their practice is greatly relaxed. The whole of the fourfold division of their life, with all the restraints imposed on students, hermits, and abstracted devotees, is now laid aside as regards the com- munity ; though individuals, at their choice, may still adopt some one of the modes of life which formerly were to be gone through in turn by all. Bramins now enter into service, and are to be found in all trades and professions. The number of them supported by charity, according to the original system, is quite insignificant in proportion to the whole. It is common to see them as husbandmen, and, still more, as soldiers ; and even of those trades which are expressly forbidden to them under severe penalties, they only scruple to exercise the most degraded, and in some places not even those.2 In the south of India, however, their peculiar secular occupations are those connected with writing and public business. From the minister of state down to the village accountant, the greater number of situations of this sort are in their hands, as is all interpretation of the Hindu law, a large share of the ministry of religion, and many employ- ments (such as farmers of the revenue, etc.) where a knowledge of writing and of business is required. In the parts of Hindostan where the Mogul system was fully introduced, the use of the Persian language has thrown public business into the hands of Mussulmans and Cayets.3 Even in the Nizam's territories in the Deckan the same cause has in some degree diminished the employment of the Bramins ; but still they must be admitted to have everywhere a more avowed share in the government than in the time of Menu's code, when one Bramin counsellor, together with the judges, made the whole of their portion in the direct enjoyment of power. It might be expected that this worldly turn of their pursuits would deprive the Bramins of some part of their religious in- fluence ; and, accordingly, it is stated by a very high authority,4 that (in the provinces on the Ganges, at least) they are null as a hierarchy, and as a literary body few and little countenanced. Even in the direction of the consciences of families and of individuals they have there been supplanted by Gosayens and other monastic orders.5 1 Some casts of Bramins in Hindo- probably few Bramins ever witnessed stan eat certain descriptions of flesh it. 2 Ward, vol. i. p. 87. that has been offered in sacrifice. In 3 A cast of Sudras; see p. 61. such circumstances flesh is every- 4 Professor Wilson, Asiatic Re- where lawful food ; but in the Deckan searches, vol. xvii. pp. 310, 311. this sort of sacrifice is so rare that 5 Ibid. vol. xvii. p. 311. 60 LOSS OF CAST Yet even in Bengal they appear still to be the objects of veneration and of profuse liberality to the laity.6 The ministry of most temples, and the conduct of religious ceremonies, must still remain with them ; and in some parts of India no diminu- tion whatever can be perceived in their spiritual authority. Such is certainly the case in the Maratta country, and would appear to be so likewise in the west of Hindostan.7 The temporal influence derived from their numbers, affluence, and rank subsists in all parts ; but, even where the Bramins have retained their religious authority, they have lost much of their popularity. This seems to be particularly the case among the Rajputs,8 and is still more so among the Marattas, who have not forgiven their being supplanted in the government of their country by a class whom they regard as their inferiors in the military qualities, which alone, in their estimation, entitle men to command. The two lowest classes that existed in Menu's time are now replaced by a great number of casts of mixed, and sometimes obscure, descent, who, nevertheless, maintain their divisions with greater strictness than the ancient classes were accustomed to do, neither eating together, nor intermarrying, nor partaking in common rites. In the neighbourhood of Puna, where they are probably not particularly numerous, there are about 150 different casts.9 These casts, in many cases, coincide with trades ; the goldsmiths forming one cast, the carpenters another, etc. This is conformable to Menu, who assigns to each of the mixed classes an hereditary occupation. The enforcement of the rules of cast is still strict, but capricious. If a person of low cast were to step on the space of ground cleared out by one of the higher classes for cooking, the owner would immediately throw away his untasted meal, even if he had not the means of procuring another. The loss of cast is faintly described by saying that it is civil death. A man not only cannot inherit, nor contract, nor give evidence, but he is excluded from all the intercourse of private life, as well as from the privileges of a citizen. He must not be admitted into his father's house ; his nearest relations must not communicate with him ; and he is deprived of all the con- solations of religion in this life, and all hope of happiness in that which is to follow. Unless, however, cast be lost for an enormous offence, or for long-continued breach of rules, it can always be regained by expiation ; and the means of recovering 6 Ward's Hindoos, vol. i. pp. 8 Ibid. ; and see also Malcolm's 68 — 71. Central India, vol. ii. p. 224. 7 Tod's Rdjasthan, vol. i. pp. 511, 9 Steele, Summary of the Laws and 512. Customs of Hindoo Casts, preface, p. xi. II. 1 MIXED CLASSES 61 it must be very easy, for the effects of the loss of it are now scarcely observable. It occurs, no doubt, and prosecutions are not unfrequent in our courts for unjust exclusion from the cast ; but in a long residence in India I do not remember ever to have met with or heard of an individual placed in the circumstances which I have described. The greatest change of all is, that there no longer exists a servile class. There are still prsedial slaves in the south of India, and in some of the mountain and forest districts else- where. These may possibly be the remains of the ancient Sudras, but in other parts of the country all classes are free. Domestic slaves form no exception, being individuals of any class reduced by particular circumstances to bondage. Though scrupulous genealogists dispute the existence of pure Sudras at the present day, yet many descriptions of people are admitted to be such, even by the Bramins. The whole of the Marattas, for instance, belong to that class. The proper occu- pation of a Sudra is now thought to be agriculture ; but he is not confined to that employment, for many are soldiers ; and the Cayets, who have been mentioned as rivalling the Bramins in business and everything connected with the pen, are (in Bengal, at least) 10 pure Sudras, to whom their profession has descended from ancient times.11 The institution of casts, though it exercises a most pernicious influence on the progress of the nation, has by no means so great an effect in obstructing the enterprise of individuals as European writers are apt to suppose. There is, indeed, scarcely any part of the world where changes of condition are so sudden and so striking as in India. The last Peshwa had, at different times, two prime ministers ; one of them had been either an officiating priest or a singer in a temple (both degrading employments), and the other was a Sudra, and originally a running footman. The Raja of Jeipur's prime minister was a barber. The founder of the reigning family of Holcar was a goatherd ; and that of Sindia a menial servant ; and both were Sudras. The great family of Rastia, in the Maratta country, first followed the natural occupations of Bramins, then be- came great bankers, and, at length, military commanders. Many similar instances of elevation might be quoted. The 0 [In Bengal, the next divisions the kuldla or potter, the karmakdra below the Brahmans are the Baidyas or smith, and the ndpita or barber, or medical, and the Kdyasthas, or Below these are the numerous low writer cast, — then come the nine casts, from whom a Brahman cannot divisions called the Nobo Sak, i.e., accept water, such as the kaivartaka the gopa or cowherd, the mall or or fisherman, sauvarna-banij or gold- gardener, the taili or oilman, the tan- smith, etc. — ED.] tri or weaver, the modaka or confec- n Colebrooke, Asiatic Researches, tioner, the varaji or betel-cultivator, vol. v. p. 58. 62 MONASTIC ORDERS changes of professions in private life are less observable ; but the first good Hindu miniature painter, in the European manner, was a blacksmith. A new cast mav be said to V have been introduced by the establishment of the monastic orders. The origin of these communities can only be touched on as a matter of speculation. By the rules of Menu's code, a Bramin in the fourth stage of his life, after having passed through a period of solitude and mortification as an anchoret,12 is released from all formal observances, and permitted to devote his time to contemplation. It is probable that persons so situated might assemble for the purpose of religious discussion, and that men of superior endowments to the rest might collect a number of hearers, who would live around them without forming any religious community. Such, at least, was the progress from single monks to cenobites, among the early Christians. The assemblies of these inquirers might in time be attended by disciples, who, though not Bramins, were of the classes to whom the study of theology was permitted, each, however, living independently, according to the practice of his own class. This would seem to be the stage to which these religious institutions had attained in the time of Alexander, though there are passages in the early Greek writers from which it might be inferred that they had advanced still further towards the present model of regular monastic orders.13 Unless that evidence be thought sufficient, we have no means of conjecturing at what period those assem- blages formed themselves into religious communities, subject to rules of their own, distinct from those of their respective classes. The earliest date to which the foundation of any such order can be traced in the Hindu books is the eighth century of our era ; and few of those now in existence are older than the fourteenth.14 Some orders are still composed of Bramins alone, and a few among them may be regarded as the represen- tatives of the original societies adverted to above ; but the distinguishing peculiarity of the great majority of the orders is that all distinctions of cast are levelled on admission. Bramins break their sacerdotal thread ; and Cshatriyas, Veisyas, and Sudras renounce their own class on entering an order, and all become equal members of their new community. This bold 2 See p. 16. 13 See Appendix III. It appears, in the same place, that these assem- blies included persons performing the penances enjoined to Bramins of the third stage of life (or anchorets), who, by the strict rule laid down for them, were bound to live in solitude and silence. 1 It may, perhaps, be construed into an indication of the existence of such orders in Menu's time, that in Ch. v. 89, funeral rites are denied to heretics, who wear a dress of religion unauthorized by the Veda. [The Schol. explains it of wandering asce- tics who wear red garments, etc. — ED.] II. 1 GOSAYENS 63 innovation is supposed by Professor Wilson to have been adopted about the end of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century.15 The Hindu orders do not present the same regular aspect as similar fraternities in Europe, and do not so easily furnish marked characteristics to distinguish them from the rest of mankind or from each other. There is not even a general name for the class, though that of Gosayen (which, in strictness, should be confined to one subdivision) is usually applied to the whole. They can all be recognised by their dress, as all wear some part of their clothes (generally the turban and scarf) of a dirty orange colour, except a few, who go quite naked : all are bound by some vows ; and all accept (though all do not solicit) charity. These are, perhaps, the only particulars which can be asserted of them all ; but by far the greater number have many other features in common. An order generally derives its character from a particular spiritual instructor, whose doctrines it maintains, and by whose rules of life the members are bound. Many of these founders of orders have been likewise founders of sects ; for which reason the tenets of Gosayens are seldom purely orthodox. They vary greatly in numbers, some being confined to a small knot of votaries in one part of the country, and others spread in numbers over all India. Most of them possess convents, to which, in some cases, landed property is attached. They derive an additional income from the contributions of devout persons, from money collected by begging, and, in many cases, from trade, which is often carried on openly, but more frequently in a covert manner. These convents are all under a mohant (or abbot), who is generally elected by his own community or by the other mohants of the order ; but who is sometimes hereditary, and often named by his predecessor. Admission into an order is not given until after a probation of a year or two. The novice is in a manner adopted by a particular instructor, or guru, who has often several such disciples ; all subject, as well as the guru himself, to the head of the convent. One order in Bengal admits of males and females living in one convent, but under strict vows of chastity. Many of the Gosayens who belong to convents nevertheless spend much of their lives in wandering about, and subsist by begging. Other Gosayens lead an entirely erratic life ; in some cases still subordinate to mohants, and in others, quite 15 [Similarly distinctions of cast The earliest protest against cast was cease for the time among the wor- the rise of Buddhism. — ED.] shippers at the temple of Jagannath. 64 NAGAS independent and free from all rules, except such as tthey impose on themselves. But among these last are to be found some of the most austere religionists ; those, in particular, who retire to the heart of forests, and live entirely uncon- nected with mankind, exposed to the chance of famine, if no charitable person should think of them, and to still greater danger from the beasts of prey that alone inhabit those wild and solitary tracts.16 Few of the orders are under very strict vows ; and they have no attendance on chapels, general fasts, vigils, or other monkish observances. Most are bound to celibacy ; but many allow their members to marry, and to reside with their families like laymen. One order, particularly devoted to Crishna, in his infant form, hold it to be their duty to indulge in costly apparel and choice food, and to partake of every description of innocent enjoyment ; and these tenets are so far from lowering their character that their influence with their followers is unbounded, and they are amply supplied with the means of living according to their liberal notions of religious duty. Some orders, however, differ widely from these last ; such are those of which individuals hold up one or both arms until they become fixed in that position, and until the nails grow through the hands ; those who lie on beds of spikes, who vow perpetual silence, and who expose themselves to other volun- tary mortifications. Some few affect every sort of filth and pollution, and extort alms by the disgust which their presence creates, or by gashing their limbs with knives. Others, as has been said, go naked, and many nearly so. Of this description are the Nagas, who serve as mercenary soldiers, often to the number of several thousands, under their own leaders. These people do not profess to take arms for the advance- ment of their religion, but serve any chief for hire ; and are, in general, men of violent and profligate habits, but with the reputation of desperate courage. Their naked limbs smeared with ashes, their shaggy beards, and their matted hair arti- ficially increased and twisted round the head, give a striking appearance to these martial devotees. When not hired, they have been known to wander about the country in large bands, plundering and levying contributions. In former days the British possessions were more than once invaded by such marauders . But these armed monks sometimes assemble in great num- 16 Mr. Ward on the Hindoos, vol. Island, that six of these hermits had iii. p. 342, where he states that he been carried off by tigers in the pre- was informed, on a spot on Sagar ceding three months. II. 1 DEVOTEES AND MOUNTEBANKS 65 bers*, without being formed into bands or associated for military service ; and the meeting of large bodies of opposite sects has often led to sanguinary conflicts. At the great fair at Hardwar in 1760, an affray, or rather a battle, took place between the Nagas of Siva and those of Vishnu, in which it was stated, on the spot, that 18,000 persons were left dead on the field.17 The amount must, doubtless, have been absurdly exaggerated, but it serves to give an idea of the numbers engaged. One description of Gosayens, of the sect of Siva, are Yogis (see Chap. V.) ; and attempt, by meditation, and by holding in the breath, and other mummeries, to procure a union with the Divinity. The lowest of this class pretend to work miracles ; and some are even professed mountebanks, who go about the country with monkeys and musical instruments, and amuse the populace with juggling and other tricks of dexterity. Another sort is much more remarkable. These profess to be enthusiastic devotees, and practise their imposture not for money, but to increase their reputation for sanctity. Among them are per- sons who manage, by some contrivance hitherto unexplained, to remain seated, for many minutes, in the air, at as great a distance from the ground as four feet, with no other apparent support but what they derive from slightly resting on a sort of crutch with the back of one hand, the fingers of which are all the time employed in counting their beads.18 Among the Gosayens there are, or have been, some few learned men : many are decent and inoffensive religionists, and many respectable merchants ; but many, also, are shameless and importunate beggars, and worthless vagabonds of all descriptions, attracted to the order by the idle and wandering ' life which it admits of. In general, the followers of Vishnu are the most respectable, and those of Siva the most infected by the offensive qualities of the class. It is to the credit of the good sense of the Hindus that these devotees fall off in public esteem exactly in proportion to the extravagance and eccen- tricity of their observances. The veneration of some of the Vaishnava sectarians for their mendicant directors is carried to an almost incredible pitch. In Bengal, some of them consider their spiritual guide as of superior importance, and entitled to greater regard than their Deity himself.19 The want of a common head to the Hindu religion accounts 17 Captain Raper, Asiatic Re- eye-witness in the Asiatic Monthly searches, vol. ii. p. 455. Journal for March, 1829. 18 The most authentic account of 19 Professor Wilson, Asiatic Re- one of these is quoted by Professor searches, vol. xvi. p. 119. The above Wilson, Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii. account is chiefly from Professor p. 186, from a statement by an Wilson's essay in vols. xvi. and xvii. 66 THE ADMINISTRATION for the lax discipline of many orders, and the total absence of rules among single Beiragis and Yogis, and such lawless assemblages as those formed by the military Nagas.20 The same circumstance has preserved the independence of these orders, and prevented their falling, like the monks of Europe, under the authority of the ecclesiastical body ; and to their independence is to be ascribed the want of concord be- tween them and the sacerdotal class. The rivalry thus engen- dered might have produced more serious effects ; but the influence which the Bramins derive from their possession of the literature and law of their nation has had an operation on the orders, as it has on other Hindus ; and, in recognising the code of Menu, and the religious traditions of their country, they could not withhold their acknowledgment of the high station to which the class had raised itself by the authority of those writings. CHAPTER II CHANGES IN THE GOVERNMENT Administration — Revenue divisions — Description of a township — Its privi- leges— Government of a township by one head — Duties of the head- man — Village establishment : the accountant, watchman, etc. — Government by a village community — Classes of inhabitants — Village landholders — Permanent tenants — Temporary tenants- Hired labourers — Shopkeepers, etc. — Probable origin and decline of the village communities — Public land revenue — Property in the soil — Other branches of the king's revenue — Alienations — Lands alienated for military service — Lands for military service among the Rajputs — Lands for services not military — Lands held free of service — Tributary and other dependent territories — Zemindars — War — Policy. THE modern Hindu government differs from that described by Menu, less in consequence of any deliberate alterations, than of of the Asiatic Researches, with some continued until the middle of the particulars from Ward's Hindoos, ninth century, when all professed and some from the account of the monks were compelled to enter them- Gosayens in the Appendix to Steele's selves as members of particular con- Summary. See Appendix, on vents. Even members of convents " Changes in Cast." sometimes led the same vagabond 20 The same laxity prevailed at life until restrained by authority, different periods among the Christian (Histoire du Clerge Scculier et Regulier, orders, and called forth the interfer- vol. ii. p. 15 ; Muratori, 75th Disser-, ence of the popes and councils. tation, vol. iii. part 2, pp. 80, 94.) In the early ages of the church the New Orders multiplied among the Sarabaites belonged to no convent, Christians with as little restraint as and were under no rule, but roamed among the Hindus, until they were about the country, subsisting by prohibited under Innocent III., A.D. charity, and often practising every 1215. (Muratori, p. 97.) sort of debauchery ; and this license Commerce was carried on, even in II. 2 REVENUE DIVISIONS 67 a relaxation of the systematic form which was recommended by the old lawgiver, and which, perhaps, was at no time exactly conformed to in the actual practice of any state. The chief has no longer a fixed number of ministers and a regular council. He has naturally some heads of departments, and occasionally consults them, and his prime minister, on matters affecting the peculiar province of each. Traces of all the revenue divisions of Menu,1 under lords of 10 towns, lords of 100, and lords of 1000 towns, are still to be found, especially in the Deckan ; but the only one which remains entire is that called Perganneh, which answers to the lordship of 100 towns. Even the officers of the old systems are still kept up in those divisions, and receive a remuneration in lands and fees ; but they are no longer the active agents of the government, and are only employed to keep the records of all matters connected with land (A). It is generally supposed that these officers fell into disuse after the Mahometan con- quest ; but as, like everything Hindu, they became hereditary, and liable to division among heirs, the sovereign, Hindu as well as Mussulman, must have felt their inadequacy to fulfil the objects they were designed for, and the necessity of replacing them by officers of his own choosing, on whom he could rely. At present, even Hindu territories are divided into govern- ments of various extent, which are again divided and sub- divided, as convenience requires. The king names the governors of the great divisions, and the governor chooses his own deputies for those subordinate. The governor unites all the functions of administration ; there being no longer military divisions as in Menu's time ; and no courts of justice, but at the capital (if there). But among all these changes, the townships * remain entire, and are the indestructible atoms, from an aggregate of which the most extensive Indian empires are composed. A township is a compact piece of land, varying in extent, inhabited by a single community. The boundaries are accur- ately defined and jealously guarded. The lands may be of all descriptions : these actually under cultivation, and those recent times, to a great extent by the exercise professions ; even married Jesuits, and was one of the arguments persons were not excluded, in favour of the suppression of the * As many of the notes on this order. (Ranke, History of the Popes, account of the revenue system are vol. iii. pp. 138, 206.) As late as the long, and not required for a general last century some even of the strictest understanding of the subject, I have orders admitted into their community thought it best to place them in an a class which took certain vows and Appendix, to which reference will bo wore a monastic dress, but were made by letters of the alphabet, allowed to live in the world and to * [c/. Sir H. Maine's Village Communities in the East and West, 1871.] 68 THE TOWNSHIP neglected ; arable lands never yet cultivated ; and land which is altogether incapable of cultivation. These lands are divided into portions, the boundaries of which are as carefully marked as those of the township ; and the names, qualities, extent, and proprietors of which are minutely entered in the records of the community. The inhabitants are all assembled in a village within the limits, which in many parts of India is forti- fied, or protected by a little castle or citadel. Each township conducts its own internal affairs. It levies on its members the revenue due to the state ; and is collectively responsible for the payment of the full amount. It manages its police, and is answerable for any property plundered within its limits. It administers justice to its own members, as far as punishing small offences, and deciding disputes in the first instance. It taxes itself, to provide funds for its internal expenses ; such as repairs of the wall and temple, and the cost of public sacrifices and charities, as well as of some ceremonies and amusements on festivals. It is provided with the requisite officers for conducting all those duties, and with various others adapted to the wants of the inhabitants ; and, though entirely subject to the general government, is in many respects an organized commonwealth, complete within itself. This independence, and its concomitant privileges, though often violated by government, are never denied ; they afford some little protection against a tyrannical ruler, and maintain order within their own limits, even when the general government has been dissolved. I quote the following extract from a minute of Sir Charles Metcalfe, as well for the force of his language as the weight of his authority : — " The village communities are little republics, having nearly everything they can want within themselves, and almost inde- pendent of any foreign relations. They seem to last where nothing else lasts. Dynasty after dynasty tumbles down ; revolution succeeds to revolution ; Hindoo, Patan, Mogul, Mahratta, Sikh, English, are all masters in turn ; but the village community remains the same. In times of trouble they arm and fortify themselves : an hostile army passes through the country : the village communities collect their cattle within their walls, and let the enemy pass unprovoked. If plunder and devastation be directed against themselves, and the force employed be irresistible, they flee to friendly villages at a distance ; but, when the storm has passed over, they return and resume their occupations. If a country remain for a series of years the scene of continued pillage and massacre, so that the villages cannot be inhabited, the scattered villagers never- II. 2 FUNCTIONS OP THE HEADMAN 69 theless return whenever the power of peaceable possession revives. A generation may pass away, but the succeeding generation will return. The sons will take the places of their fathers ; the same site for the village, the same positions for the houses, the same lands will be re-occupied by the descendants of those who were driven out when the village was depopulated ; and it is not a trifling matter that will drive them out, for they will often maintain their post through times of disturbance and convulsion, and acquire strength sufficient to resist pillage and oppression with success. This union of the village com- munities, each one forming a separate little state in itself, has, I conceive, contributed more than any other cause to the preservation of the people of India, through all the revolutions and changes which they have suffered, and is in a high degree conducive to their happiness, and to the enjoyment of a great portion of freedom and independence." 2 A township in its simplest form is under a headman (B), who is only spoken of in Menu as an agent of the king, and may have been removable at his pleasure. His office has now be- come hereditary ; and though he is still regarded as a officer of the king, he is really more the representative of the people. The selection of an individual from the proper family rests sometimes with the village community, and oftener with the government ; but to be useful to either he must possess the confidence of both. He holds a portion of land, and receives an annual allowance from the government ; but the greater part of his income is derived from fees paid by the villagers. So far is he identified with the village, that he is held personally responsible for its engagements, and thrown into prison in all cases of resistance or failure of the revenue. The headman settles with the government the sum to be paid to it for the year ; and apportions the payment among the villagers according to the extent and tenures of their lands. He also lets such lands as have no fixed occupants, partitions the water for irrigation, settles disputes, apprehends offenders, and sends them to the government office of the district ; and, in short, does all the duties of municipal government. All this is done in public, at a place appropriated for the purpose ; and on all points affecting the public interest, in free consultation with the villagers. In civil disputes the headman is assisted by arbitrators named by the parties, or by assessors of his own choice. His office confers a great deal of respecta- bility with all the country people, as well as influence in his 2 Sir C. T. Metcalfe, Report of Select Committee of House of Commons, 1832, vol. iii. Appendix 84, p. 331. 70 THE VILLAGE ESTABLISHMENT own village. It is saleable ; but the owner seldom parts with it entirely, reserving the right of presiding at certain ceremonies and other honorary privileges, when compelled to dispose of all the solid advantages. The headman is assisted by different officers, of whom the accountant and the watchman are the most important. The accountant (G) keeps the village records, which contain a full description of the nature of the lands of the village, with the names of the former and present holders, the rent, and other terms of occupancy. He also keeps the accounts of the village community and those of the villagers individually, both with the government and with each other. He acts as notary in drawing up deeds for them, and writes private letters for those who require such a service. He is paid by fees on the inhabi- tants, and sometimes has an allowance or an assignment of land from the government. The watchman (D) is the guardian of boundaries, public and private. He watches the crops, is the public guide and messenger, and is, next to the headman, the principal officer of police. In this capacity he keeps watch at night, observes all arrivals and departures, makes himself acquainted with the character of every individual in the village, and is bound to find out the possessor of any stolen property within the township, or to trace him till he has passed the boundary, when the re- sponsibility is transferred to the next neighbour. These duties may seem beyond the powers of one man ; but the remuneration is hereditary in a particular family, all the members of which contribute to perform the service.3 They are always men of a low cast. The money-changer may also be considered an assistant of the headman, as one of his duties is to assay all money paid. He is also the silversmith of the village. Besides these, there are other village officers, the number of which is fixed by the native name and by common opinion at twelve ; but, in fact, it varies in different villages, and the officers included are not always the same. The priest and the astrologer (one of whom is often the schoolmaster), the smith, carpenter, barber, potter, and worker in leather, are seldom wanting. The tailor, washerman, physician, musician, minstrel, and some others, are not so general : the dancing-girl seems only to be in the south of India. 1 This is the only office in which uous, as the records are lost or thrown the sort of joint tenancy described into confusion by frequently changing is beneficial. In most others the hands, and none of the co-parceners sharers act in turn : in that of the is long enough in office to be perfect accountant the evil is most conspic- in his business. II. 2 VILLAGE LANDHOLDERS 71 The minstrel recites poems and composes verses. His most important character (in some places at least) is that of genealo- gist.4 Each of these village officers and artisans has a fee, sometimes in money, more frequently a portion of produce, as a handful or two out of each measure of grain. This is the mode of village government when there is nobody between the tenant and the prince ; but in one half of India, especially in the north and the extreme south, there is in each village a community which represents, or rather which con- stitutes, the township ; the other inhabitants being their tenants (E). These people are generally regarded as absolute proprietors of the soil, and are admitted wherever they exist to have an hereditable and transferable interest in it ; but as the completeness of their proprietary right is doubtful, it will be convenient to preserve the ambiguity of their native name, and call them " village landholders " (F). Where they exist, the village is sometimes governed by one head, as above described ; but more frequently each branch of the family composing the community (or each family if there be more than one) has its own head, who manages its internal affairs, and unites with the heads of the other divisions to conduct the general business of the village. The council thus composed fills precisely the place occupied in other cases by the single headman, and its members share among them the official remuneration allowed to that officer by the government and the villagers. Their number depends on that of the divisions, but seldom exceeds eight or ten. Each of these heads is generally chosen from the oldest branch of his division, but is neither richer nor otherwise distinguished from the rest of the landholders. Where there are village landholders, they form the first class of the inhabitants of villages ; but there are four other classes of inferior degree : — 2. Permanent tenants. 3. Temporary tenants. 4. Labourers. 5. Shopkeepers, who take up their abode in a village for the convenience of a market. The popular notion is that the village landholders are all descended from one or more individuals who first settled the village ; and that the only exceptions are formed by persons who have derived their rights by purchase, or otherwise, from members of the original stock. The supposition is confirmed by the fact that, to this day, there are often only single families of landholders in small villages, and not many in large ones 1 The widely extended entail of all of a genealogist of much more serious property in India, and the eompli- concern in that country than it is cated restrictions on the intermar- with us. riage of families, make the business 72 COLLECTIVE RIGHTS (G) ; but each has branched out into so many members, that it is not uncommon for the whole agricultural labour to be done by the landholders, without the aid either of tenants or labourers. The rights of the landholders are theirs collectively ; and, though they almost always have a more or less perfect partition of them, they never have an entire separation. A landholder, for instance, can sell or mortgage his rights ; but he must first have the consent of the village, and the purchaser steps exactly into his place and takes up all his obligations. If a family becomes extinct, its share returns to the common stock. In some villages the rights of the landholders are held in common, the whole working for the community, and sharing the net produce, after satisfying the claims of the government. In some they divide the cultivated lands, but still with mutual responsibility for the dues of government, and sometimes with periodical interchanges of their portions ; and in others they make the separation between the portions of cultivated land complete, retaining only the waste land and some other rights in common ; but, at times, they divide the waste land also. In dividing their lands they do not in general give one compact portion to each landholder, but assign to him a share of every description of soil ; so that he has a patch of fertile land in one place, one of sterile in another, one of grazing ground in a third, and so on, according to the variety of qualities to be found within the village (Ga). Their rights are various in different parts of the country. Where their tenure is most perfect, they hold their lands sub- ject to the payment of a fixed proportion of the produce to government, or free of all demand. When at the lowest, they retain some honorary exemptions that distinguish them from the rest of the villagers (H). There are many instances where the government has taken advantage of the attachment of the landholders to their land to lay on them heavier imposts than other cultivators are willing to pay. Even then, however, some advantage, actual or pro- spective, must still remain ; since there is no tract in which village landholders are found in which their rights are not occasionally sold and mortgaged. One advantage, indeed, they always enjoy in the consideration shown towards them in the country, which would induce a family to connect itself by marriage with a landholder who laboured with his own hands, rather than with a wealthy person, equally unexceptionable in point of cast, but of an inferior class society. So rooted is the notion of property in the village landholders, that even when one of them is compelled to abandon his fields II. 2 RYOTS 73 from the demand of government exceeding what they will pay, he is still considered as proprietor, his name still remains on the village register, and, for three generations, or one hundred years, he is entitled to reclaim his land, if from any change of circumstances he should be so disposed. In the Tamil country and in Hindostan,5 a tenant put in by the government will sometimes voluntarily pay the proprietor's fee to the defaulting and dispossessed landholder.0 In all villages there are two descriptions of tenants, who rent the lands of the village landholders (where there are such), and those of the government, where there is no such intermediate class. These tenants are commonly called ryots (I), and are divided into two classes, — permanent and temporary. The permanent ryots are those who cultivate the lands of the village where they reside, retain them during their lives, and transmit them to their children (K). They have often been confounded with the village land- holders, though the distinction is marked in all cases where any proprietor's fee exists. In it no tenant ever participates.7 Many are of opinion that they are the real proprietors of the soil ; while others regard them as mere tenants at will. All, however, are agreed within certain limits ; all acknowledging, 5 Mr. Ellis, Report of Select Com- mittee, 1832, vol. iii. p. 376 ; Mr. Fortescue, Selections, vol. iii. p. 405. 6 [Mr. Robinson, in his valuable little book on The Land Revenue of British India (published in 1856), gives three principal kinds of land tenure in India — the Zeminclaree, the Putteedaree, and the Ryutwaree. ' The distinguishing feature of the Zemindaree tenure is, that when an estate belongs to several proprietors, it is managed in joint-stock, with no separate post ession of portions of land by the sharers." " The characteris- tic of the Putteedaree tenure is parti- tion, or apportionment of the land in severalty, with joint responsibility. Each owner, or shareholder, under- takes the management of his separate portion, paying through the headman that proportion of the whole assess- ment on the estate which, by previous agreement, has been fixed on this portion of the land." " Under the Ryutwaree tenure the various pro- prietary sub-divisions of the estate are recognised, and joint responsi- bility ceases. The owner of each petty holding is made responsible to government for the payment exclu- sively of his own fixed assessment. The principle is that of a field-assess- ment, with total separation of in- terests." Besides these three, there is a fourth, the Talooqdaree, which was superinduced over the others by the Muhammadan custom of granting the collection of revenue to great officers of state or powerful chiefs, who in course of time made the office hereditary. In Bengal proper, these talooqdars obtained great power by the perpetual settlement, and made themselves generally the sole owners or zemindars of the land. The Put- teedaree tenure prevails in the North- west provinces and the Saugor and Nerbudda territories ; the Zemin- daree in the North-west, and the Maratta and Tamil country ; the Ryutwaree chiefly in Madras. See Robinson's Land Revenue, pp. 1 — 17, and Wilson's Glossary (Gram and Zdmlnddr). Wilson also mentions an imperfect form of Putteedaree in the North-west, whore part of the land is held in common and part in severalty. — ED.] 7 Mr. Ellis, Report of Select Com- mittee of House of Commons, 1832, vol. iii. p. 385. 74 TENANTS PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY on the one hand, that they have some claim to occupancy, and on the other, that they have no right to sell their land. But, though all admit the right of occupancy, some contend that it is rendered nugatory by the right of the landlord to raise his rent ; and others assert that the rent is so far fixed, that it ought never to go beyond the rate customary in the surrounding district. The truth probably is, that the tenant's title was clear as long as the demand of the state was fixed ; but that it became vague and of no value when the public assessment became arbitrary. At present, the permanent tenant is protected by the interest of the landlord ; he will pay more than a stranger for lands long held by his family, and situated in a village where he has a house ; but if driven to extremities, he could easily get a temporary lease, in another village, on lighter terms (L). It is thought by some that the permanent tenants are the remains of village landholders reduced by oppression ; others think they are temporary tenants who have gained their rights by long possession. It is probable that both conjectures are partially right ; as well as a third, that their tenure was, in many instances, conferred on them by the landholders at the first settlement of the township. The temporary tenant (M) cultivates the lands of a village different from that to which he belongs, holding them by an annual lease, written or understood. The first description of land being occupied by the resident tenant, an inferior class falls to his share, for which there is little competition ; for this reason, and on account of his other disadvantages, he gets his land at a lower rent than the permanent tenant. There is another sort of tenant who deserves to be men- tioned, though of much less importance than either of the other two (N). These are persons whose cast or condition in life prevents them engaging in manual labour, or their women from taking part in any employment that requires their appearing before men. In consideration of these disadvantages, they are allowed to hold land at a favourable rate, so as to admit of their availing themselves of their skill or capital by the help of hired labourers (0). The services and remuneration of hired labour- ers are naturally various ; but they differ too little from those of other countries to require explanation. It need scarcely be repeated that each of these classes is not necessarily found in every village. One village may be cultivated entirely by any one of them, or by all, in every variety of proportion. Shopkeepers, etc., are subject to a ground-rent, and some- II. 2 THE VILLAGE COMMUNITY 75 times a tax besides, to the person on whose land they reside. They are under the general authority of the head man as a magistrate, but have little else to do with the community. It seems highly probable that the first villages founded by Hindus were all in the hands of village communities. In the early stage of their progress it was impossible for single men to cut fields out of the forest, and to defend them against the attacks of the aborigines, or even of wild beasts : there was no capital to procure the services of others ; and, unless the undertaker had a numerous body of kindred, he was obliged to call in associates who were to share in the profits of the settlement ; and thence came the formation of village com- munities, and the division of the land into townships. The unoccupied waste, as in all other cases where society has assumed a regular form, must no doubt have belonged to the state ; but the king, instead of transferring this property to the intended cultivators for a price paid once for all, or for a fixed annual rent or quit-rent (as is usual in other countries), reserved a certain proportion of the produce, which increased or diminished according to the extent and nature of the culti- vation. The rest of the produce belonged to the community of settlers ; but if they found they had more good land than they could themselves till, they would endeavour to make a profit of it through the labour of others. No method seemed easier than to assign it to a person who should engage to pay the government's proportion, with an additional share to the community : but while land was plenty, and many villages in progress, no man would undertake to clear a spot unless he was to enjoy it for ever ; and hence permanent tenants would arise. Temporary tenants and labourers would follow as society ad- vanced. The subdivision of property by inheritance would have a natural tendency to destroy this state of things, and to reduce all ranks to the condition of labourers ; but as long as there was plenty of waste land, that principle would not come into full operation. But for this, the village community would remain unaltered, so long as the king's proportion of the produce was unchanged. When he raised his demand, the profits of the landholders and permanent tenants diminished ; and when it rose above a certain point, both classes cultivated their land at a loss. If this continued they were obliged to throw up their lands, and seek other means of living. As the highest proportion claimed by the king, which at the time of Menu's code was one-sixth, is now one-half, it is easy to account for the annihilation of many village communities, 76 PUBLIC LAND REVENUE and the shattered condition of others. The lands abandoned by the landholders reverted to the state. But though this progress may have been very general, it need not have been universal ; conquered lands already culti- vated, would become the property of the prince, and might be cultivated on his account by the old proprietors reduced to serfs. Even at this day, the state constantly grants lands to speculators, for the purpose of founding villages, without recog- nising a body of landholders. The terms of these grants are various ; in general they provide for total or partial exemption from revenue for a certain number of years ; after which the payment is to be the same as in neighbouring villages. Other processes must also have taken place, as we perceive from the results, though we cannot trace their progress. In Canara, Malabar, and Travancore, the land is held in absolute property by single individuals, subject to a fixed payment to the state. The sovereign's full share is now reckoned at one-half ; and a country is reckoned moderately assessed where he takes only one-third.8 This increase has been made, not so much by openly raising the king's proportion of the crop as by means of various taxes and cesses, some falling directly on the land, and others more or less circuitously affecting the cultivator. Of the first sort are taxes on ploughs, on cattle, and others of the same description ; of the second, taxes on the use of music at certain ceremonies, on marriages with widows, etc., and new taxes on consumption. Besides these, there are arbitrary cesses of both descriptions, which were professedly laid on for temporary purposes, but have been rendered permanent in practice. Of this kind are a cess on all occupants of land, proportioned to their previous payments, and a cess on the emoluments of village and district functionaries. As there is no limit to these demands, but the ability of those on whom they fall to satisfy them, the only defence of the villagers lies in endeavouring to conceal their income. For this purpose they understate the amount of produce, and con- trive to abstract part without the knowledge of the collector ; more frequently they conceal the quantity of land cultivated, falsifying their records, so as to render detection impossible, without a troublesome and expensive scrutiny, involving a survey of the land. The landholders, where there are such, possess other indirect advantages, the extent of which the 8 [Mr. Robinson states, on the ancient sovereigns of Orissa, and in authority of Sir T. Munroe, that " in other Hindu states, the assessment the districts of the chieftains of the fluctuated from two to three fifths Northern Circars, descended from the of the gross produce." — ED.] II. 2 MODES OF SETTLEMENT 77 government is seldom able to ascertain. Some degree of con- nivance on the collector's part is obtained by bribes, which are levied as part of the internal expenses, and charged as " secret service " ; an item into which it is a point of honour, both with the villagers and with future collectors and auditors, never to inquire. It is only by the existence of such abuses, counterbalancing those on the part of the government, that we can account for land yielding a rent and being saleable when apparently assessed to the utmost of its powers of bearing.9 In the confusion produced by those irregularities on both sides, the principle of proportions of the produce is lost sight of ; and in most parts of India the revenue is annually settled by a reference to that paid in former years, with such alterations as the peculiarity of the season, or the occurrence of any tem- porary advantage or calamity, may render expedient. When the parties cannot agree by this mode of settlement, they have recourse to a particular inquiry into the absolute ability of the village for the year. The land being classed (as has been mentioned) according to its fertility, and the facilities it possesses for cultivation, the surplus remaining after the expense of production can be conjectured : a sufficient propor- tion is set aside for the maintenance of the cultivator ; and the rest, after deducting village expenses, etc., goes to the govern- ment. As a final resource, when all other amicable means fail, an appeal is made to an actual division of the crops ; but this mode of adjustment is so open to frauds that it is generally avoided by both parties ; except, indeed, in places where long connexion between the representative of government and the people has established mutual confidence, in which case the division of the crop is the most popular of all settlements. If the result of the contest with the government officers is the imposition of a burden beyond the patience of the cultiva- tors, the Avhole body by common consent abandon their lands, leave their village, and refuse to enter into, any engagement with the government. The public officers then have recourse to conciliation and intimidation, and, when necessary, to concession : force would be reckoned very oppressive, and, if used, would be ineffectual : the most it could do would be to disperse the villagers, and drive them into other jurisdictions. 9 As in the village described by and Mr. Elphmstone for Guzerat, Mr. Hodgson (Transactions of the both in the selections published by Royal Asiatic Society, vol. ii. p. 77), the East India Company ; Mr. where the landholders pay 57-J per Hamilton Buchanan for Deinajpiir cent, of their produce. See also Mr. and other districts under Bengal, in Chaplin and the Deckan collectors, his separate reports. 78 FARMING THE REVENUE It may easily be supposed that such modes of settlement cannot be carried on without much interference with the in- ternal constitution of the township. In general the government officer carries on his exactions through the headman, but interferes when necessary to support him against individuals ; but he sometimes suspends the headman from his duties, and takes the details of imposing and collecting the public revenue for the time into his own hands. Appeals and complaints are also incited to afford pretences for extortion in matters con- nected with justice and police ; so that under a bad government the privileges of the township are of ten reduced to insignificance. All these evils are aggravated in many parts of India by the system of farming the revenue. The governments of provinces in such cases are conferred on the person who engages to give security for the IsLrgest annual payment to the treasury. This contractor in like manner farms his subdivisions to the highest bidder ; and these last, in their turn, contract with the headmen for fixed payments from the villages, leaving each of them to make what profit he can for himself. By these means the natural defender of the cultivators becomes himself their principal oppressor ; and, if the headman refuses the terms offered to him, the case is made worse by the transfer of his office to any stranger who is willing to accept the contract. It is by such exactions that village landholders have in many cases been reduced from masters of the townships to mere tenants of the crown ; and in some have been obliged to fly from their lands, to avoid being compelled to cultivate them under terms which it was impossible for them to bear. Hitherto each sharer in the village has been supposed to be acting on his own rights ; but the king and the landholders are each entitled to alienate their share in the advantages derived from it. The headman and accountant also, if not others of the village functionaries, can sell their offices and official emolu- ments. Thus a new description of persons is introduced into the township ; but the new comers occupy precisely the station of their predecessors. The grantee of the king's share becomes entitled to receive his proportion of the produce, but does not supersede the headman in his local duties, still less interfere with private occupants ; the new landholder takes up all the relations of the old ; and the headman, accountant, etc., must henceforth be taken from the new family, but his functions undergo no change. The purposes of the king's alienations will be explained a little further on. This account of the different occupants of the land naturally leads to the much agitated question of the property in the soil ; which some suppose to be vested in the state ; some, in the II. 2 RIGHTS OF PROPERTY IN LAND 79 great Zemindars ; some, in the village landholders ; and some, in the tenants. The claim of the great Zemindars will be shown, in its proper place, to be derived from one of the re- maining three ; among whom, therefore, the discussion is confined. Property in land seems to consist in the exclusive use and absolute disposal of the powers of the soil in perpetuity ; to- gether with the right to alter or destroy the soil itself, where such an operation is possible. These privileges, combined, form the abstract idea of property ; which does not represent any substance distinct from these elements. Where they are found united, there is property, and nowhere else. Now the king possesses the exclusive right to a proportion only of the produce. This right is permanent, and the king can dispose of it at his pleasure ; but he cannot interfere with the soil or its produce beyond this limit. If he requires the land for buildings, roads, or other public purposes, he takes it as a magistrate, and ought to give compensation to his fellow- shareholders, as he can on emergency seize carts, boats, etc., and can demolish houses in besieged towns, although in those cases he has no pretensions whatever to property. As much of the produce as comes into the hands of the landholder, after the king's proportion is provided, is his ; and his power to dispose of his right to it for all future years is unrestrained. The tenant has what remains of the produce after the king's proportion and the landlord's rent is paid ; and this he enjoys in perpetuity ; but the right is confined to himself and his heirs, and cannot be otherwise disposed of. Neither the landholder nor the tenant can destroy, or even suspend, the use of the powers of the soil : a tenant forfeits his land when he fails to provide a crop from which the other sharers may take their proportions ; and a landholder guilty of the same default would be temporarily superseded by a tenant of the community's or the king's, and, after a certain long period, would be deprived of his right altogether. From all this it is apparent that, where there are village communities and permanent tenants, there is no perfect pro- perty in any of the sharers. Where there are neither com- munities nor permanent tenants, the king doubtless is the full and complete proprietor ; all subsequent rights are derived from his grant or lease. The extent of those grants varies with circumstances ; but when they are given without reserve and in perpetuity, they constitute a perfect form of private property. Many of the disputes about the property in the soil have been occasioned by applying to all parts of the country, facts which are only true of particular tracts ; and by including, in 80 JAGIRS conclusions drawn from one sort of tenure, other tenures totally dissimilar in their nature. Many also are caused by the assump- tion, that where the government attends to no rights, no rights are now in being. Yet those rights are asserted by the sufferers, and not denied by those who violate them ; and often, in favourable circumstances, recover their former efficiency. Practically, the question is not in whom the property resides, but what proportion of the produce is due to each party ; and this can only be settled by local inquirers, not by general rules founded on a supposed proprietary right, nor even on ancient laws long since forgotten. The king's share in the produce of all land, and his rent on such as belongs to the crown, form by far the greatest part of the public revenue. The rest is derived from various sources : of these, some are drawn from the land, as the cesses and taxes above alluded to ; and others from classes unconnected with agriculture, as taxes on shops and trades, and houses in towns, or on articles of consumption, market duties, transit duties on the great roads, sea customs, and a few others. Most of them, especially the transit duties, are fertile sources of oppression and vexation, and yield little clear profit in return for so much evil. These revenues are generally collected by the village and other local authorities ; but some of them, especially transit duties and customs, are often farmed to separate contractors. It has been mentioned that the king can alienate his share in a village. In like manner he often alienates large portions of territory, including numerous villages as well as tracts of unappropriated waste. But in all these cases it is only his own rights that he makes over : those of the village landholders and permanent tenants (where such exist), of district and village officers, and of persons holding by previous grants from himself or his predecessors, remaining unaffected by the transfer.10 These grants are made for the payment of troops and civil officers, for the support of temples, the maintenance of holy men, or for rewards of public service. Lands given for the two first purposes are called Jagirs.11 This mode of remunerating the services of certain officers, and of providing for holy men, is as old as Menu. When it came to be applied to troops is 10 Want of advertence to this cir- in its origin, is applied to lands given cumstance has led to mistakes regard- by government for personal support, ing the property in the soil. The or as a fief for the maintenance of native expresion being " to grant a troops for the service of the state, village," or " a district," it has been Some service is implied in the per- inf erred that the grant implied the sonal, as well as the military, Jagir." whole, and excluded the notion of any — (Col. Sykes on Land Tenures in the other proprietors. Dekkan, Jour R. A. S. 1835.) — ED.] 11 [" Jagir, which is a Persian word II. 2 THE SYSTEM OF THE MARATTAS 81 uncertain. It was in use in Bijayanagar, and other states of the south of India, when they were overturned by the Mussul- mans ; but the more perfect form in which it is now found among the Marattas is probably of modern date. Such grants originate in the convenience of giving an assignment on a dis- trict near the station of the troops, instead of an order on the general treasury ; a mode of transfer particularly adapted to a country where the revenue is paid in kind. These assignments at first were for specific sums equal to the pay due : but when they had long been continued, and were large enough to swallow up the whole revenue of a district, it was natural to simplify the arrangement, by transferring the collection to the chief of the military body. This was done with every precaution to prevent the chiefs appropriating more than the pay of the troops, or exercising any power not usually vested in other collectors. The system adopted by the Marattas gives a full illustration of the means resorted to for this purpose. According to their plan, the number and description of troops to be maintained by each chief was described ; the pay of each division carefully calculated ; allowances made for officers, sometimes even to the extent of naming individuals ; a sum was allotted for the personal expenses of the chief him- self ; and every particular regarding the terms of service, the mode of mustering, and other arrangements, was laid down. A portion of territory was then selected, of which the share belonging to the government should be sufficient, after deduct- ing the expenses of collection and other charges, to supply the amount which had been shown to be requisite ; and the whole territory yielding that amount was made over to the chief. The chief was now placed in the situation of the governor of a revenue division, and exercised all the other functions which are now united in the holder of that office. The power to interfere for the protection of subordinate rights was, however, retained by the government, as well as a claim to any revenue which the tract assigned might yield beyond the amount for which it was granted. Those stipula- tions were enforced by the appointment of two or more civil officers, directly from the government, to inspect the whole of the chief's proceedings, as well in managing his troops as his lands. Notwithstanding all these precautions, the usual conse- quences of such grants did not fail to appear. The lands had from the first a tendency to become hereditary ; and the control of the government always grew weaker in proportion to the time that had elapsed from the first assignment. The original o 82 A FEUDAL SYSTEM principle of the grant, however, was never lost sight of, and the necessity of observing its conditions was never denied. These grants affected but a moderate proportion of the territory of the state ; the rest of which was administered by local officers directly under the prince, according to the form laid down in Menu. The allotment of lands was adopted as a means of paying the troops, and not of governing the country ; so that, although there were fiefs, there was no feudal system. But though this was the progress of landed assignments in settled countries, they took another course in the case of foreign conquests. In some instances a chief was detached by the invaders, to occupy a remote part of the country, and to subsist his troops on its resources ; and was allowed to remain undis- turbed until his family had taken root, and had become tenants on condition of service instead of mere officers on detachment. Examples of this nature may be found among the Hindu governments in the south of India, and in abundance and perfection among the Marattas of later times. Even in these cases of foreign conquest, however, the intermediate tenure is the exception, and not the rule ; the main portion of the territory remaining under the direct administration of the prince. But a course of proceeding yet remains, which carries the principle of alienation to a greater extent, and leads to a system which (with every caution in applying familiar names to remote institutions) it is impossible not to call feudal. It is that which prevails among the Rajputs. With them, the founder of a state, after reserving a demesne for himself, divided the rest of the country among his relations, according to the Hindu laws of partition. The chief to whom each share was assigned owed military service and general obedience to the prince, but exercised unlimited authority within his own lands. He, in his turn, divided his lands on similar terms among his relations, and a chain of vassal chiefs was thus established, to whom the civil government as well as the military force of the country was committed (P). This plan differs from the feudal system in Europe, as being founded on the principle of family partition, and not on that of securing the services of great military leaders ; but it may not always have originated in conquest, and when it did, the clan- nish connexion which subsists between the members of a Rajput . tribe makes it probable that command among the invaders depended also on descent ; and that the same kinsmen who shared the chief's acquisitions had been the leaders of the tribe before the conquest by which they were gained. The origin of present possession in family claims is still alive II. 2 ALIENATIONS OF LANDS 83 in the memory of the Rajput chiefs, who view the prince as their co-parcener in one point of view, though their sovereign in another. This mixed relation is well shown by the following passage, in a complaint from certain chiefs of Marwar against the Raja ;— ' When our services are acceptable," say they, ' then he is our lord : when not, we are again his brothers and kindred, claimants and laying claim to the land." 12 The rule of partition was adhered to after the conquest, and each chief, in succession, was obliged to provide an appanage for the younger members of his father's family. When any of those claimants remained inadequately provided for, he was assisted to set out on militarv adventures, and to found new V states, by conquests in other countries (Q). The example of granting lands, which was set in the case of the Raja's family, came to be extended to strangers : many fiefs are now held by Rajputs of entirely distinct tribes ; n and one of the first order seems, in later times, to have been be- stowed on a Mussulman 14 (R). From the accounts given by the Mahometans of the state of Sind, during their early invasion in A.D. 711, it seems not improbable that the species of feudal system preserved among the modern Rajputs was then widely extended.15 Lands for services not military, besides those already noticed to local officers, are granted to ministers and other persons en- gaged in the administration ; and also to great officers of the household, and hereditary personal attendants. Other alienations are, to temples or religious persons, or to meritorious servants or to favourites. Though very numerous, they are generally of small extent : often single villages ; sometimes only partial assignments on the government share of a village ; but, in some cases, also, especially religious grants, they form very large estates. Religious grants are always in perpetuity, and are seldom interfered with. A large proportion of the grants to individuals are also in perpetuity, and are regarded as amongst the most secure forms of private property ; but the gradual increase of such instances of liberality, com- bined with the frequency of forged deeds of gift, sometimes induces the ruler to resume the grants of his predecessors, and, more frequently, to burden them with heavy taxes. When these are laid on transfers by sale, or even by succession, they are not thought unjust ; but total resumptions, or the per- manent levy of a fixed rate, is regarded as oppressive. The reaction must have begun long ago ; for the ancient inscriptions 12 Colonel Tod, vol. i. p. 198, 14 In 1770. Colonel Tod, vol. i Rdjasihdn. p. 200. 13 Colonel Tod, vol. i. p. 166. 15 See Book V. ch. i. 84 ZEMINDARS often contain imprecations on any of the descendants of the granter who shall resume his gift.16 It is probable that in all times there were heads of hill and forest tribes, who remained independent of the Hindu monar- chies, since even the more vigorous governments of the Moguls and the British have not alwavs been able to reduce such chiefs */ to subjection. There were certainly others, who, though they acknowledged a sovereign, and paid him a real or nominal tribute, or furnished a regular quota of troops, or merely gave general assistance, yet retained the internal administration of their country, yielding different degrees of obedience according to circumstances. The number of these half-subdued chieftains was from time to time increased on the breaking up of different Hindu states when some of the governors of districts and the military feuda- tories were able to hold out against the conqueror, and to maintain themselves in different degrees of independence. Others of the same classes, and, still more, persons who farmed the public revenue, contrived to keep their stations by rendering themselves useful to the ruling power ; and without the least pretension to independence, were admitted to have a sort of hereditary right or interest in their districts, as long as they administered them satisfactorily, and paid the revenue de- manded by the government. It is these three descriptions of persons, together with others who have risen under the Mahometans, that form the great class known in English con- troversy by the name of Zemindars,17 whose rights have been discussed with so much heat and confusion, and who will again be noticed as the requisite occasions arise. The art of war is greatly changed. At the time of the Mahometan invasions from Ghazni, the Hindus were capable of systematic plans, pursued through several campaigns, and no longer confined to inroads of a few weeks' duration. The use of ordnance afterwards made another great alteration ; and the introduction of regular battalions entirely changed the face of war. Setting aside that European improvement, their 16 [The student will find many bearer ; db-ddr, water-cooler, etc. interesting illustrations of these dif- It is said by Mr. Stirling (Asiatic ferent kinds of alienations of land in Researches, vol. xv. p. 239) that, until the chapter on the Feudal System in Aurangzib's time, the term zemindar Hallam's Middle Ages. — ED.] was confined to such chiefs as enjoyed 17 The Persian word zemin-dar some degree of independence. In means haver, holder or keeper of the modern times it is not limited to that land, but by no means necessarily class ; for in the Deckan it is most implies ownership ; the termination generally applied by the natives to dar being applied to a person in any the district officers (desmuks, etc.) ; charge, down to the meanest ; as and in our provinces in Hindostan to khezdneh-ddr, treasurer ; killa-dar, the village landholders. governor of a fort ; chob-dar, mace- II. 2 NATIVE ARMIES 85 discipline, so far as relates to order of march and battle, is worse than that described by Menu ; but they now show a skill in the choice of ground, an activity in the employment of light troops, and a judgment in securing their own supplies and cutting off those of the enemy, of which there is no sign in the long instructions laid down in the code. The spirit of generosity and mercy which pervades the old laws of war is no longer to be found : but war in India is still carried on with more humanitv than in other Asiatic countries ; */ and more so by the Hindus than the Mahometans. The longer duration of their campaigns renders the military part of their life much more marked than it was formerly. Some of the Maratta chiefs, in particular, have lived entirely in the field, and had no other capital but their camp. .From this circumstance the numbers assembled are out of all propor- tion to the fighting men ; and, when they move, they form a disorderly crowd, spread over the country for ten or twelve miles in length, and one or two in breadth, besides parties scattered to the right and left for forage or plunder. The main body is, in some places dense, and in others rare, composed of elephants and camels, horse and foot, carts, palan- keens and bullock-carriages, loaded oxen, porters, women, children, droves of cattle, goats, sheep, and asses, all in the greatest conceivable disorder, and all enveloped in a thick cloud of dust that rises high in the atmosphere, and may be seen for miles. Where there are regular infantry, they march in a body, or, at least, by regiments ; and the guns form a long line occasion- ing continual obstructions from the badness of the roads or the breaking down of carriages. The rest of the troops straggle among the baggage. Two tall standards, accompanied by kettledrums (all, perhaps, on elephants), represent a body which ought to be from 500 to 5,000 horse, but are followed by from 5 to 50. The other horsemen belonging to them are riding singly or in groups, each, perhaps, with his spear poised on his shoulder, to the imminent danger of those who press behind, while the owner is joking with his companion, or singing in a voice that may be heard amidst the surrounding din. The whole is generally so loosely spread that a horseman might go at a full trot from the rear to the head of the column, and have way made for him as he advanced, except at passes of ravines, or narrow parts of the road where he and everybody else must often suffer most tedious delay. Partial halts occasionally take place towards the front, when the quartermaster-general is negotiating with a village how much it is to give him not to encamp on its lands ; and towards 86 THE CAMP the rear, as individuals wish to smoke, or to take other rest or refreshment. Now and then a deer or a wild boar runs through the line : shouts and commotion precede and follow his course ; sticks are thrown, shots are fired, and men spur through the crowd, without much thought of the risk of life or limb to themselves or others. With all this want of order, its good intelligence and num- bers of light troops prevent a native army from being surprised on the line of march. It would be difficult, in our wars, to find an instance even of the baggage of a native army being cut off, unless when fairly run down by a succession of hard marches. On the contrary, these apparently unwieldy masses have often gained great advantages from the secrecy and celerity of their movements. Heider, Tippoo, and the Marattas frequently overwhelmed separate detachments by attacking them when believed to be in some distant quarter ; and as often have they slipped through difficult passages, and ravaged the country in the rear of our general, when he thought he was driving them before him towards their own capital. When they reach their ground, things are arranged better than would be expected in such a scene of confusion. Con- spicuous flags are pitched, which mark the place allotted to each chief or each department ; and every man knows what part of his own line belongs to him. The camp, when pitched, is a mixture of regularity and dis- order. The bazars are long and regular streets, with shops of all descriptions, as in a city. The guns and disciplined infantry are in lines, and the rest scattered about, without any visible regard to arrangement. The tents are mostly white, but often striped with red, green, or blue, and sometimes wholly of those colours. Those of the poor are low, and of black woollen, sometimes merely a blanket of that description thrown over three spears stuck in the ground ; though the owners of spears are seldom so ill lodged. The tents of the great are splendid ; they are disposed in courts formed of canvas screens ; and some are large and lofty, for public receptions ; while others are low, and of moderate size, with quilted, and sometimes double walls, that secure privacy, while they exclude the dust and wind. They are con- nected by covered passages, and contain every accommodation that would be met with in a palace. A Maratta court, indeed, appears to much greater advantage in their camps than in their cities. Yet, with all this magnificence, there is some of their usual carelessness and indifference to making anything com- II. 2 METHODS OF FIGHTING 87 plete : these canvas palaces are often so ill pitched that they are quite incapable of resisting the tempest of particular seasons. Sindia 's whole suite of tents has been known to be levelled with the ground at midnight, and his women obliged to seek shelter from the wind and rain in some low private tent that happened to have resisted the fury of the elements. The intended proceedings for the next day are announced by fakirs or gosayens, who go about the camp proclaiming a halt, or the hour and direction of the movement ; and who stop on the march to beg, exactly at the point where the welcome sight of the flags of the proposed encampment disposes all to be liberal. The armies are fed by large bodies of Banjaras, a tribe whose business it is to be carriers of grain, and who bring it from distant countries and sell it wholesale to the dealers.18 Smaller dealers go about to villages at a moderate distance from the camp and buy from the inhabitants. The government interferes very little, and native camps are almost always well supplied. The villages in the neighbourhood of the camp are sure to be plundered, unless protected by safeguards. The inhabitants fly with such property as they can carry, the rest is pillaged, and the doors and rafters are pulled down for firewood ; treasure is dug for if the place is large ; and, even in small villages, people try if the ground sounds hollow, in hopes of finding the pits in which grain is buried ; or bore with iron rods, such as are used by our surveyors, and ascertain by the smell, whether the rod has passed through grain. A system like this soon reduces a country to a desert. In a track often traversed by armies the villages are in ruins and deserted ; and bushes of different ages, scattered over the open country, show that cultivated fields are rapidly changing into jungle. The large towns are filled with fugitives from the country ; and their neighbourhood is gener- ally well cultivated, being secured by means of compositions with the passing armies. The most important part of the Hindu battles is, now, a cannonade. In this they greatly excel, and have occasioned heavy loss to us in all our battles with them ; but the most characteristic mode of fighting (besides skirmishing, which is a favourite sort of warfare) is a general charge of cavalry, which soon brings the battle to a crisis. Nothing can be more magnificent than this sort of charge. Even the slow advance of such a sea of horsemen has something in it more than usually impressive ; and, when they move on 18 [It was these who afforded such war with Tippoo in 1791. See Mill's assistance to Lord Cornwallis in his Hist., vol. v. ch. iv. — ED.] 88 HORSE AND FOOT SOLDIERS at speed, the thunder of the ground, the flashing of their arms, the brandishing of their spears, the agitation of their banners rushing through the wind, and the rapid approach of such a countless multitude, produce sensations of grandeur which the imagination cannot surpass. Their mode is to charge the front and the flanks at once ; and the manner in which they perform this manoeuvre has sometimes called forth the admiration of European antagonists, and is certainly surprising in an undisciplined body. The whole appear to be coming on at full speed towards their adversary's front, when, suddenly, those selected for the duty at once wheel inwards, bring their spears by one motion to the side nearest the enemy, and are in upon his flank before their intention is suspected. These charges, though grand, are ineffectual against regular troops, unless they catch them in a moment of confusion, or when they have been thinned by the fire of cannon. Horse soldiers are often maintained (as before mentioned) by assignments of the rent or revenue belonging to government, in particular tracts of country, but oftener by payments from the treasury, either to military leaders, at so much a horseman (besides personal pay, and pay of subordinate officers), or to single horsemen, who, in such cases, are generally fine men, well mounted, and who expect more than ordinary pay. Some bodies are mounted on horses belonging to the government ; and these, although the men are of lower rank than the others, are the most obedient and efficient part of the army. The best foot now-a-days are mercenaries, men from the Jumna and Ganges, and likewise Arabs and Sindians ; espe- cially Arabs, who are incomparably superior to most other Asiatics in courage, discipline, and fidelity. Their own way of carrying on sieges is, probably, little improved since Menu : individuals creep near the wall, and cover themselves by digging till they can crouch in safety, and watch for an opportunity to pick off some of the garrison ; batteries are gradually raised, and a shot fired from time to time, which makes little impression on the works : a blockade, a surprise, or an unsuccessful sally, more frequently ends the siege than a regular assault. The modern system of government and policy will appear in so many shapes hereafter, that it is quite unnecessary to enter on the subject in this place. II. 3 THE CODE OF MENU 89 CHAPTER III CHANGES IN THE LAW Changes in the written law — Civil law — Changes in practice — Criminal law — Local laws. THE code of Menu is still the basis of the Hindu jurisprudence ; and the principal features remain unaltered to the present day. The various works of other inspired writers,1 however, and the numerous commentaries by persons of less authority,2 to- gether with the additions rendered necessary by the course of time, have introduced many changes into the written law, and have led to the formation of several schools, the various opinions of which are followed respectively in different parts of India. In all of these Menu is the text-book, but is received accord- ing to the interpretations and modifications of approved com- mentators ; and the great body of law thus formed has again been reduced to digests, each of authority within the limits of particular schools. Bengal has a separate school of her own ; and, although the other parts of India agree in their general opinions, they are still distinguished into at least four schools : those of Mithila (North Behar) ; Benares ; Maharashtra (the Maratta country) ; and Dravida (the south of the Peninsula).3 All of these schools concur in abolishing marriages between unequal casts ; as well as the practice of raising up issue to deceased brothers, and all the species of sons mentioned in Menu, except a son of the body and one by adoption. Most of them, however, admit a species of adoption unknown to Menu, which is made by a widow in behalf of her deceased husband, in consequence of real or supposed instructions imparted by him 1 [These are the other so-called Vivada ratnakara and chintamani Smritis, which bear the names of which are current in Mithila ; and Yajnavalkya, Angiras, Atri, Apas- the Vyavahara mayukha of Nila- tamba, Usanas, Katyayana, Daksha, kantha, current in Maharashtra. — Parasara, Yama, yLikhita, Vishnu, ED.] Vrihaspati, Vyasa,Sankha, Samvarta, 3 ["The main distinction between Harita, Gautama, Satatapa, and the Benares, Maharashtra and Dra- Vasishtha. — ED.] vida schools is rather a preference 2 [Of these the most important are shown by each respectively for some those on Manu by Kulhika and Med- particular work as their authority of hatithi ; that on Yajnavalkya, called law, than any real or important differ- the Mitakshara, by Vijnaneswara, ence of doctrine. In all the western which is the main authority for all the and southern schools the prevailing schools of law, except in Bengal ; authority is the nearly universal and that on Parasara, called the Mitakshara. The Bengal system Madhaviya, by Madhavacharya, cur- stands nearly alone, particularly rent in Dravida. To these must be with regard to the law of inheritance added the digest of Jirmitavahana, (where it follows the Dayabhaga) ; whose chapter on inheritance is called in some points it assimilates with the Dayabhaga ; that of Raghunan- that of Mithila." — Morley's Digest, dana, called the Smriti tattwa ; the Introd. p. cxc. — ED.] 90 CHANGES IN THE LAW during his life. Some schools give the power to the widow independent of all authorization by the deceased. All the schools go still further than Menu in securing to sons the equal division of their family property. Most of them prevent the father's alienating ancestral property without the consent of his sons, and without leaving a suitable maintenance for each of them ; all prohibit arbitrary division of ancestral property, and greatly discourage it even when the property has been acquired by the distributor himself. The Dravida school gives to the sons exactly the same rights as to the father, in regard to the disposal of all his property, and puts them on a complete equality with him, except in the present enjoyment.4 All, except Bengal, in certain cases, still withhold the power of making a will. The law now goes much more into particulars on all subjects than in Menu's time. Land is often mentioned under a variety of forms, and some of the relations between landlord and tenant are fixed. Attorneys or pleaders are allowed ; rules of pleading are prescribed, which are spoken of with high praise by Sir William Jones.5 Different modes of arbitration are provided ; and, although many of the rudest parts of the old fabric remain, yet the law bears clear marks of its more recent date, in the greater ex- perience it evinces in the modes of proceeding, and in the signs of a more complicated society than existed in the time of the first code. The improvements, however, in the written law bear no proportion to the excellence of the original sketch, and in the existing code of the Hindus has no longer that superiority to those of other Asiatic nations which, in its early stage, it was entitled to claim over all its contemporaries. Many great changes have been silently wrought without any alteration in the letter of the law. The eight modes of marriage, for instance, are still permitted ; but only one (that most conformable to reason and to the practice of other nations) is ever adopted in fact. The criminal law, also, which still subsists in all its original deformity, has (probably for that very reason) fallen into desuetude, and has been replaced by a sort of customary law, or by arbitary will. The regular administration of justice by permanent courts, which is provided for in Menu, and of which the tribunals, with their several powers, are recorded by later writers,6 is hardly 4 Mr. Ellis, Transactions of Madras 6 See Mr. Colebrooke on Hindu Literary Society, p. 14. Courts of Justice, Transactions of 5 Colebrooke'sl)w7es£, Preface, p. xii. Royal Asiatic Society , vol. ii. p. 166. II. 4 RELIGION 91 observed by any Hindu government. The place of those tri- bunals is in part taken by commissions appointed in a summary way by the prince, generally granted from motives of court favour, and often composed of persons suited to the object of the protecting courtier. In part, the courts are replaced by bodies of arbitrators, called Panchayets, who sometimes act under the authority of the government, and sometimes settle disputes by the mere consent of the parties. The efficiency of these tribunals is in some measure kept up, notwithstanding the neglect of the government, by the power given by Menu to a creditor over his debtor, which still subsists, and affords a motive to the person withholding payment to consent to an inquiry into the claim. On the whole, there cannot be the least doubt that civil justice is much worse administered in Hindu states at the present time than it was in the earliest of which we have any certain knowledge. Besides rules of Menu which have been altered in later times, many local customs are now observable, of which no notice is taken in the Institutes. Most of these are unimportant ; but some relate to matters of the first consequence, and are probably remains of the laws which prevailed in the nations where they are now in force before the introduction of Menu's code, or of the authority of the Bramins. Perhaps the most remarkable instance of this sort is to be found among the Nairs of Malabar where a married woman is legally permitted to have unre- strained intercourse with all men of equal or superior cast ; and where, from the uncertainty of the issue thus produced, a man's heirs are always his sister's sons, and not his own.7 CHAPTER IV PRESENT STATE OF RELIGION Changes since Menu — The Puranas — Present objects of worship — Siva — Devi or Bhavani — Vishnu and his incarnations — Rama — Crishna — Other gods — Good and bad spirits — Local gods — General character of the Hindu religion — Future state — Moral effects — Sects — As- cendency of the monastic orders — The Bauddhas or Buddhists — The Jainas or Jains — Comparative antiquity of those religions and that of Brahma. THE principal changes in religion since Menu are— The neglect of the principle of monotheism : The neglect of some gods, and the introduction of others : 7 Dr. F. Buchanan's Journey through the Mysore, etc., vol. ii. pp. 411, 412, 92 EVIDENCES OF RELIGION WIDESPREAD The worship of deified mortals : The introduction (or at least the great increase) of sects, and the attempt to exalt individual gods at the expense of the others : The doctrine that faith in a particular god is more efficacious than contemplation, ceremonial observance, or good works : The use of a new ritual instead of the Vedas ; and the religious ascendency acquired by monastic orders. The nature of these changes will appear in an account of the Hindu religion as it now stands, which is essential to an under- standing of the ordinary transactions of the people. There is, indeed, no country where religion is so constantly brought before the eye as in India. Every town has temples of all descriptions, from a shrine, which barely holds the idol, to a pagoda with lofty towers, and spacious courts, and colonnades. To all these votaries are constantly repairing, to hang the image with garlands, and to present it with fruit and flowers. The banks of the river, or artificial sheet of water (for there is no town that is not built on one or other), have often noble flights of steps leading down to the water, which are covered, in the early part of the day, with persons performing their ablutions, and going through their devotions, as they stand in the stream. In the day, the attention is drawn by the song, or by the grace- ful figures and flowing drapery of groups of women, as they bear their offerings to a temple. Parties of Bramins and others pass on similar occasions ; and frequently numerous processions move on, with drums and music, to perform the ceremony of some particular holiday. They carry with them images borne aloft on stages, representa- tions of temples, chariots, and other objects which, though of cheap and flimsy materials, are made with skill and taste, and present a gay and glittering appearance. At a distance from towns, temples are always found in inhabited places ; and frequently rise among the trees on the banks of rivers, in the heart of deep groves, or on the summits of hills. Even in the wildest forests, a stone covered with vermilion, with a garland hung on a tree above it, or a small flag fastened among the branches, apprises the traveller of the sanctity of the spot. Troops of pilgrims and religious mendicants are often met on the road ; the mendicants are distinguished by the dress of their order, and the pilgrims by bearing some symbol of the god to whose shrine they are going, and shouting out his name or watchword whenever they meet with other passengers. The numerous festivals throughout the year are celebrated by the native princes with great pomp and expense ; they afford II. 4 GROSS POLYTHEISM 93 occasions of display to the rich, and lead to some little show and festivity even among the lower orders. But the frequent meetings, on days sacred to particular gods, are chiefly intended for the humbler class, who crowd to them with delight, even from distant quarters. Though the religion presented in so many striking forms does not enter, in reality, into all the scenes to which it gives rise, yet it still exercises a prodigious influence over the people ; and has little, if at all, declined in that respect, since the first period of its institution. The objects of adoration, however, are no longer the same. The theism inculcated by the Vedas as the true faith, in which all other forms were included, has been supplanted by a system of gross polytheism and idolatry ; and, though nowhere entirely forgotten, is never steadily thought of, except by philosophers and divines. The followers of the Vedas, though they ascended beyond the early worship of the elements and the powers of nature to a knowledge of the real character of the Divinity, and though anxious to diffuse their own doctrines, did not disturb the popular belief ; but, actuated either by their characteristic respect for immemorial usage, or, perhaps, by a regard for the interests of the priesthood (from which the most enlightened Bramin seems never to have been free), they permitted the worship of the established gods to continue, representing them as so many forms or symbols of the real Divinity. At the same time, they erected no temple and addressed no worship to the true God. The consequence was such as was to be expected from the weakness of human nature : the obvious and palpable parts of their religion prevailed over the more abstruse and more sublime : the ancient polytheism kept its ground, and was further corrupted by the introduction of deified heroes, who have, in their turn, superseded the deities from whom they were supposed to derive their divinity. The scriptures of this new religion are the Pur anas, of which there are eighteen, all alleged by their followers to be the works of Vyasa, the compiler of the Vedas ; but, in reality, composed by different authors between the eighth and sixteenth centuries, although, in many places, from materials of much more ancient date. They contain theogonies ; accounts of the creation ; philosophical speculations ; instructions for religious cere- monies ; genealogies ; fragments of history ; and innumerable legends, relating to the actions of gods, heroes, and sages. Most are written to support the doctrines of particular sects, and all are corrupted by sectarian fables ; so that they do not form a consistent whole, and were never intended to be com- bined into one general system of belief. Yet they are all 94 MILLIONS OF DEITIES received as incontrovertible authority ; and, as they are the sources from which the present Hindu religion is drawn, we cannot be surprised to find it full of contradictions and anomalies. The Hindus, as has been said, are still aware of the existence of a Supreme Being, from whom all others derive their existence, or, rather, of whose substance they are composed ; for, accord- ing to the modern belief, the universe and the Deity are one and the same. But their devotion is directed to a variety of gods and goddesses, of whom it is impossible to fix the number. Some accounts, with the usual Hindu extravagance, make the deities amount to 330,000,000 ; but most of these are minis- tering angels in the different heavens, or other spirits who have no individual name or character, and who are counted by the million. The following seventeen, however, are the principal ones, and, perhaps, the only ones universally recognised as exer- cising distinct and divine functions, and therefore entitled to worship 1 :— 1. Brahma, the creating principle ; 2. Vishnu, the preserving principle ; 3. Siva, the destroying principle ; with their corresponding female divinities, who are mythologi- cally regarded as their wives, biit, metaphysically, as the active powers which develop the principle represented by each member of the triad ; namely,— {4. Saras wati. 5. Lakshmi. 6. Parvati, called also Devi, Bhavani, or Durga. 7. Indra, god of the air and of the heavens. 8. Varuna, god of the waters. 9. Pavana, god of the wind. 10. Agni, god of fire. 11. Yama, god of the infernal regions and judge of the dead. 12. Cuvera, god of wealth. 13. Cartikeya, god of war. 14. Cama, god of love. 15. Surya, the sun. 16. Soma, the moon. 17. Ganesa, who is the remover of difficulties, and, as sue presides over the entrances to all edifices, and is invoked at the commencement of all undertakings. To these may be added the planets, and many sacred rivers, especially the Ganges, which is personified as a female divinity, and honoured with every sort of worship and reverence. 1 Kennedy's Researches into the Hindoo Mythology, p. 357. II. 4 THE HINDU TRIAD 95 The first three of these gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, form the celebrated Hindu triad, whose separate characters are sufficiently apparent, but whose supposed unity may perhaps be resolved into the general maxim of orthodox Hindus, that all the deities are only various forms of one Supreme Being.2 Brahma, though he seems once to have had some degree of pre-eminence, and is the only one of the three mentioned by Menu,3 was never much worshipped, and has now but one temple in India : 4 though invoked in the daily service, his separate worship is almost entirely neglected.5 His consort, Saraswati, being goddess of learning and elo- quence, has not fallen so completely out of notice. It is far different with Vishnu and Siva. They and their incarnations now attract almost all the religious veneration of the Hindus ; the relative importance of each is eagerly supported by nu- merous votaries ; and there are heterodox sects of great extent which maintain the supreme divinity of each, to the entire exclusion of his rival. Siva is thus described in the Puranas.6 " He wanders about, surrounded by ghosts and goblins, inebriated, naked, and with dishevelled hair, covered with the ashes of a funeral pile, ornamented with human skulls and bones, sometimes laughing and sometimes crying." The usual pictures of him correspond with these gloomy descriptions, with the addition that he has three eyes, and bears a trident in one of his hands ; his hair is coiled up like that of a religious mendicant ; and he is represented seated in an attitude of profound thought. This last particular corresponds with the legends relating to him, which describe him as always absorbed in meditation, and as consuming with the fire of his eye those who dare to disturb him in his state of abstraction. But although these accounts accord so well with his character of destroyer, the only emblem under which he is ever worshipped is intended to mark that destruction as only another name for regeneration. It is meant for the same symbol of the creative principle that was employed by the ancients ; but is, in fact, a low cylinder or stone, which occupies the place of an image in all the temples sacred to Siva, and which suggests no suspicion of its original import. Bloody sacrifices are performed to Siva, though discouraged by the Bramins of his sect ; and it is in honour of him, or of his consort, that so many self-inflicted tortures are incurred on certain days in the year. On those 2 Kennedy's Researches, p. 211. 5 Ward on the Hindoos, vol. iii. Colebrooke, Asiatic Researches, vol. p. 26. vii. p. 279. 6 Quoted in Kennedy's Researches, 3 Kennedy's Researches, p. 270. p. 291. 4 Tod's Rdjasthan, vol. i. p. 774. occasions some stab their limbs and pierce their tongues with knives, and walk in procession with swords, arrows, and even living serpents thrust through the wounds ; while others are raised into the air by a hook fixed in the flesh of their backs, and are whirled round by a movable lever, at a height which would make their destruction inevitable, if the skin were to give way.7 The nature of Siva's occupations does not indicate much attention to the affairs of mankind ; and, according to the present Hindu system, there is no god particularly charged with the government of the world ; the Supreme Being, out of whose substance it is formed, taking no concern in its affairs : but the opinion of the vulgar is more rational than that of their teachers ; they mix up the idea of the Supreme Being with that of^ the deity who is the particular object of their adoration, and suppose him to watch over the actions of men, and to reward the good and to punish the wicked both in this world and the next. The heaven of Siva is in the midst of the eternal snows and glaciers of Keilasa, one of the highest and deepest groups of the stupendous summits of Himalaya. His consort, Devi, or Bhavani is at least as much an object of adoration as Siva ; and is represented in still more terrible colours. Even in the milder forms in which she is generally seen in the south of India, she is a beautiful woman, riding on a tiger, but in a fierce and menacing attitude, as if advancing to the destruction of one of the giants, against whom her in- carnations were assumed. But in another form occasionally used everywhere, and seemingly the favourite one in Bengal, she is represented with a black skin, and a hideous and terrible countenance, streaming with blood, encircled with snakes, hung round with skulls and human heads, and in all respects re- sembling a fury rather than a goddess. Her rites in those countries correspond with this character. Human sacrifices were formerly offered to her ; 8 and she is still supposed to delight in the carnage that is carried on before her altars. At her temple near Calcutta, 1,000 goats, besides other animals, are said to be sacrificed every month.9 At Bindabashni, where the extremity of the Vindhya hills approaches the Ganges, it used to be the boast of the priests that the blood before her image was never allowed to dry. In other respects the worship of Devi does not differ much from that of the other gods ; but it sometimes assumes a form 7 Ward's Hindoos, vol. iii. p. 15 ; 8 Mr. Blaquiere, Asiatic Researches, and Bishop Heber's Journal, vol. i. vol. v. p. 371. p. 77 9 Ward's Hindoos, vol. iii. p. 126. II. 4 VISHNU 97 that has brought suspicion or disgrace on the whole of the Hindu religion. I allude to the secret orgies, which have often been dwelt on by the missionaries, and the existence of which no one has ever attempted to deny. On those occasions, one sect of the worshippers of Devi, chiefly Bramins (but not always, for with this sect all cast is abolished), meet in parties of both sexes, to feast on flesh and spirituous liquors, and to*j indulge in the grossest debauchery. All this is rendered doubly I odious by being performed with some semblance of the cere- monies of religion ; but it is probably of rare occurrence, and is all done with the utmost secrecy ; the sect by which it is tolerated is scarcely ever avowed, and is looked on with horror and contempt by all the orthodox Hindus. Besides these votaries of Devi, and entirely unconnected with her worship, there are some few among the varieties of religious mendicants who consider themselves above all law, and at liberty to indulge their passions without incurring sin. These add to the ill repute of the religion of the Hindus ; and it is undeniable, that a strain of licentiousness and sensuality mixes occasionally with every part of their mythology ; but it is confined to books and songs, and to temples and festivals, which do not fall under every one's observation. A stranger might live among them for years, and frequent their religious ceremonies and private companies, without seeing anything indecent ; and their notions of decorum, in the intercourse of persons of different sex, is carried to a pitch of strictness which goes beyond what is consistent with reason or with European notions. To return to the gods of the Hindus : Vishnu is represented as a comely and placid young man, of a dark azure colour, and dressed like a king of ancient days. He is painted also in the forms of his ten principal incarnations, which I may mention to illustrate the genius of Hindu fiction. The first was that of a fish, to recover the Vedas, which had been carried away by a demon in a deluge ; another was that of a boar, who raised on his tusks the world, which had sunk to the bottom of the ocean ; and another was a tortoise, that supported a mountain in one of the most famous legends. The fourth had rather more of human interest. An infidel tyrant was about to put his son to death for his faith in Vishnu. In his last interview, he asked him, in derision of the omni- presence of his favourite divinity, whether he was in that pillar, pointing to one of those that supported the hall. The son answered that he was ; and the incensed father was about to order his execution, when Vishnu, in the shape of a man, with the head and paws of a lion, burst from the pillar and tore him to pieces. The fifth was, when a king, by force of H 98 RAMA sacrifices and austerities, had acquired such a power over the gods that they were compelled to surrender to him the earth and sea, and were waiting in dread till the conclusion of his last sacrifice should put him in possession of the heavens. On this occasion Vishnu presented himself as a Bramin dwarf, and begged for as much ground as he could step over in three paces : the Raja granted his request, with a smile at his diminutive stature ; when Vishnu at the first step strode over the earth ; at a second over the ocean ; and no space being left for the third, he released the Raja from his promise, on condition of his descending to the infernal regions. The sixth incarnation is Parasu Rama, a Bramin hero, who made war on the Cshatriya, or military class, and extirpated the whole race. The seventh was Rama. The eighth was Bala Rama, a hero who delivered the earth from giants.10 The ninth was Buddha, a teacher of a false religion, whose form Vishnu assumed for the purpose of deluding the enemies of the gods ; a character which plainly points to the religion of Buddha, so well known as the rival of that of the Bramins. The tenth is still to come. But all his other forms are thrown into the shade by the incarnations of Rama and Crishna, who have not only eclipsed their parent Vishnu, in Hindostan at least, but have superseded the worship of the old elementary gods, and indeed of all other gods, except Siva, Surya, and Ganesa.11 Rama, thus identified with Vishnu by the super- stition of his admirers, was a king of Oudh, and is almost the only person mentioned in the Hindu traditions whose actions have something of an historical character. He is said to have been at first excluded from his paternal kingdom, and to have passed many years in religious retirement in a forest. His queen, Sita, was carried off by the giant Ravana ; for her sake he led an army into the Deckan, penetrated to the island of Ceylon, of which Ravana was king, and recovered Sita, after a complete victory over her ravisher. In that expedition his allies were an army of monkeys, under the command of Hanumat, whose figure is frequently seen in temples, and who, indeed, is at least as much worshipped in the Deckan as Rama or any of the other gods. Rama's end, however, was unfortunate ; for having, by his imprudence, caused the death of his brother Lakshmana, who had shared with him 10 [Balarama was Krishna's half eluded. When Krishna is not men- brother ; he is more usually con- tioned among them, it is only because sidered an incarnation of Vishnu's he is the deity himself. — ED.] serpent Ananta. Krishna is gener- u Colebrooke, Asiatic Researches, ally called the eighth incarnation, but vol. vii. p. 280 ; Wilson, ibid., vol. sometimes Balarama and he""are*the xvi. pp. 4, 20. eighth and ninth, Buddha being*ex- II. 4 CRISHNA 99 in all his dangers and successes, he threw himself, in despair, into a river, and, as the Hindus say, was reunited to the Divinity. He still, however, retains his individual existence, as is shown by the separate worship so generally paid to him. Rama is represented in his natural form, and is an object of general adoration. But in this respect he falls far short of the popularity of another deified mortal, who is not included in the ten great incarnations, and whose pretensions are by no means so obvious either as a king or a conqueror. He was born of the royal family of Mattra, on the Jumna ; but brought up by a herdsman in the neighbourhood, who concealed him from a tyrant, who sought his life.12 This is the period which has made most impression on the Hindus, who are never tired of celebrating Chrisna's frolics and exploits as a child — his stealing milk, and his destroying serpents : and among whom there is an extensive sect which worships him under his infant form, as the supreme creator and ruler of the universe. Crishna excites equal enthusiasm, especially among his female wor- shippers, in his youth, which he spent among the gopis, or milkmaids, dancing, sporting, and playing on the pipe ; and captivated the hearts, not only of his rural companions, but of the princesses of Hindostan, who had witnessed his beauty 13 As he advanced in years he achieved innumerable adven- tures, and, among the rest, subdued the tyrant, and recovered his inheritance ; but, being pressed by foreign enemies, he removed his residence to Dwaraka, in Guzerat.14 He after- wards appeared as an ally of the family of Pandu, in their war with their relations the Gurus,15 for the sovereignty of Hastinapur ; a place supposed to be north-east of Delhi, and about forty miles from the point where the Ganges enters Hindostan. This war forms the subject of the great Hindu heroic poem, the " Maha Bharata," of which Crishna is, in fact, the hero. It ended in the success of the Pandus, and in the return of Crishna to his capital in Guzerat. His end also was unfor- tunate ; for he was soon involved in civil discord, and at last was slain by the arrow of a hunter, who shot at him by mistake, in a thicket.16 12 Tod's Rdjasthdn, vol. i. p. 533. searches, vol. xv. p. 101 ; Colone 13 See Sir W. Jones, Asiatic Re- Wilford, ibid. vol. vi. p. 508. searches, vol. i. p. 259 ; and the trans- 13 Ward, vol. iii. p. 148. lation by the same elegant scholar of 16 Tod, on the authority of a Hindu the song of Jayadeva, which, in his history, Rdjasthdn, vol. i. p. 50. [So hands, affords a pleasing specimen Mahabharata, Mausala Parvan, and of Hindu pastoral poetry. Ibid. vol. Vishnu Purana. It may however be iii. p. 185. allegorical, as Jara, the hunter's 14 Abstract of the " Maha Bha- name, signifies " old age, decay." — rata," in Ward's Hindoos, vol. iii. p. ED.] 148 ; Professor Wilson, Asiatic Re- 100 LOCAL DEITIES Crishna is the greatest favourite with the Hindus of all their divinities. Of the sectaries who revere Vishnu, to the ex- clusion of the other gods, one sect almost confine their worship to Rama ; but, though composed of an important class, as including many of the ascetics, and some of the boldest specu- lators in religious inquiry, its numbers and popularity bear no proportion to another division of the Vaishnava sect, which is attached to the worship of Crishna. This comprises all the opulent and luxurious, almost all the women, and a very large proportion of all ranks of the Indian society.17 The greater part of these votaries of Crishna maintain that he is not an incarnation of Vishnu, but Vishnu himself, and likewise the eternal and self -existing creator of the universe.18 These are the principal manifestations of Vishnu ; but his incarnations or emanations, even as acknowledged in books, are innumerable ; and they are still more swelled by others in which he is made to appear under the form of some local saint or hero, whom his followers have been disposed to deify. The same liberty is taken with other gods : Khandoba, the great local divinity of the Marattas (represented as an armed horseman), is an incarnation of Siva ; 19 and the family of Bramins at Chinchor, near Puna, in one of whose members godhead is hereditary, derive their title from an incarnation or emanation of Ganesa.20 Even villages have their local deities, which are often emanations of Siva or Vishnu, or of the corresponding god- desses. But all these incarnations are insignificant, when compared to the great ones of Vishnu, and above all to Rama and Crishna. The wife of Vishnu is Lakshmi. She has no temples ; but, being goddess of abundance and of fortune, she continues to be assiduously courted, and is not likely to fall into neglect. Of the remaining gods, Ganesa and Surya (the sun) are the most generally honoured. They both have votaries who prefer them to all other gods, and both have temples and regular worship. Ganesa, indeed, has probably more temples in the Deckan than any other god except Siva. Surya is represented in a chariot, with his head surrounded by rays. Ganesa, or Ganapati, is a figure of a fat man, with an elephant's head. None of the remaining nine of the gods enumerated have temples, though most of them seem to have had them in former 17 Professor Wilson, Asiatic Re- 20 Colebrooke, Asiatic Researches, searches, vol. xvi. pp. 85, 86. vol. vii. p. 282 ; Captain Moore, ibid. 3 Ibid. p. 86, etc. p. 381. 19 Mr. Coat's Bombay Transactions, vol. iii. p. 198. II. 4 ANGELS AND DEMONS 101 times.21 Some have an annual festival, on which their image is made and worshipped, and next day is thrown into a stream ; others are only noticed in prayers.22 Indra, in particular, seems to have formerly occupied a much more distinguished place in popular respect than he now enjoys. He is called the Ruler of Heaven and the King of Gods, and was fixed on by an eminent orientalist as the Jupiter of the Hindus ; 23 yet is now but seldom noticed. Cama, also, the god of love, has undergone a similar fate. He is the most pleasing of the Hindu divinities, and most con- formable to European ideas of his nature. Endowed with perpetual youth and surpassing beauty, he exerts his sway over both gods and men. Brahma, Vishnu, and even the gloomy Siva, have been wounded by his flowery bow and his arrows tipped with blossoms. His temples and groves make a distinguished figure in the tales, poems, and dramas of antiquity ; 24 but he now shares in neglect and disregard with the other nine, except Yama, whose character of judge of the dead makes him still an object of respect and terror. Each of these gods has his separate heaven, and his peculiar attendants. All are mansions of bliss of immense extent, and all glittering with gold and jewels. That of Indra is the most fully described ; and, besides the usual profusion of golden palaces adorned with precious stones, is filled with streams, groves, and gardens, blooms with an infinity of flowers, and is perfumed by a celestial tree, which grows in the centre, and fills the whole space with its fragrance. It is illumined by a light far more brilliant than that of the sun ; and is thronged with Apsarases and Gandharvas (heavenly nymphs and choristers). Angels of many kinds minister to the inhabitants, who are unceasingly entertained with songs and dances, music, and every species of enjoyment. Besides the angels and good genii that inhabit the different heavens, there are various descriptions of spirits spread through the rest of the creation. The Asuras are the kindred of the gods, disinherited and cast into darkness, but long struggling against their rivals ; and bearing a strong resemblance to the Titans of the Grecian mythology. The Deityas are another species of demon, strong enough to have mustered armies and carried on war with the gods.25 21 Professor Wilson, Asiatic Re- 24 Professor Wilson, Asiatic Re- searches, vol. xvi. p. 20. searches, vol. xvi. p. 20. 22 Ward's Hindoos, vol. iii. p. 28, ^ See in particular the legend of etc. Jalandhara, Kennedy's Researches. 3 Sir W. Jones, Asiatic Researches, p. 456. vol. i. p. 241. 102 INNUMERABLE LEGENDS The Rakshasas are also gigantic and malignant beings ; and the Pisachas are of the same nature, though perhaps inferior in power. Bhutas are evil spirits of the lowest order, corresponding to our ghosts and other goblins of the nursery ; but in India believed in by all ranks and ages. A most extensive body of divinities is still to be noticed ; although they are not individually acknowledged except in confined districts, and although the legality of their worship is sometimes denied by the Bramins. These are the village gods, of which each village adores two or three, as its especial guardians ; but sometimes as its dreaded persecutors and tormentors. They bear some resemblance to the penates or lares of the Romans ; and, like them, they are sometimes the recognised gods of the whole nation (either in their gene- rally received characters, or in local incarnations) ; but much oftener they are the spirits of deceased persons, who have attracted the notice of the neighbourhood. They have seldom temples or images, but are worshipped under the form of a heap of earth. It is possible that some of them may be ancient gods of the Sudras, who have survived the establishment of the Bramin religion.26 Such is the outline of the religion of the Hindus. To give a conception of its details, it would be necessary to relate some of the innumerable legends of which their mythology is composed, — the churning of the ocean by the gods and asuras, for the purpose of procuring the nectar of immortality, and the subsequent stratagem by which the gods defrauded their coadjutors of the prize obtained ; the descent of the Ganges from heaven on the invocation of a saint ; its falling with violence on the head of Siva, wandering for years amidst his matted locks, and tumbling at last in a mighty stream upon the earth with all its train of fishes, snakes, turtles, and crocodiles ; the production of Ganesa, without a father, by the intense wishes of Devi ; his temporary slaughter by Siva, who cut off his head and afterwards replaced it with that of an elephant, the first that came to hand in the emer- gency ; — such narratives, with the quarrels of the gods, their occasional loves and jealousies ; their wars with men and demons ; their defeats, flights, and captivity ; their penances and austerities for the accomplishment of their wishes ; their 26 Dr. Hamilton Buchanan paid deaths ; often of Bramins who had much attention to this subject in his killed themselves to resist or revenge survey of certain districts in Bengal an injury. — MSS. at the India House, and Behar. He found the village published in part by Mr. Montgomery gods were generally spirits of men Martin, of the place who had died violent II. 4 INCONGRUITIES AND ANOMALIES 103 speaking weapons ; the numerous forms they have assumed, and the delusions with which they have deceived the senses of those whom they wished to injure ; — all this would be neces- sary to show fully the religious opinions of India ; but would occupy a space for which the value of the matter would be a very inadequate compensation. It may be sufficient to observe, that the general character of these legends is extravagance and incongruity. The Greek gods were formed like men, with greatly increased powers and faculties, and acted as men would do if so circumstanced ; but with a dignity and energy suited to their nearer approach to perfection. The Hindu gods, on the other hand, though endued with human passions, have always something monstrous in their appearance, and wild and capricious in their conduct. They are of various colours — red, yellow, and blue ; some have twelve heads, and most have four hands. They are often enraged without a cause, and reconciled without a motive. The same deity is sometimes powerful enough to destroy his enemies with a glance, or to subdue them with a wish ; and at other times is obliged to assemble numerous armies to accomplish his purpose, and is very near failing after all.27 The powers of the three great gods are coequal and un- limited ; yet are exercised with so little harmony, that in one of their disputes Siva cuts off one of Brahma's heads.28 Neither is there any regular subordination of the other gods to the three, or to each other. Indra, who is called the King of Heaven, and has been compared to Jupiter, has no authority over any of the rest. These and more incongruities arise, in part, from the desire of different sects to extol their favourite deity ; but as the Puranas are all of authority, it is impossible to separate legends founded on those writings from the general belief of all classes. With all this there is something in the gigantic scale of the Hindu gods, the original character of their sentiments and actions, and the peculiar forms in which they are clothed, and splendour with which they are surrounded, that does not fail to make an impression on the imagination. The most singular anomaly in the Hindu religion is the power of sacrifices and religious austerities. Through them a religious ascetic can inflict the severest calamities, even on a deity, by his curse ; and the most wicked and most impious of mankind may acquire such an ascendency over the gods as to render them the passive instruments of his ambition, and even to force them to submit their heavens and themselves 27 Story of Siva and Jalandhara, and Wilson, Asiatic Researches, vol. Kennedy's Researches, p. 456. xvi. p. 4, note. 28 Kennedy's Researches, p. 295 ; 104 CYCLES OF EXISTENCE to his sovereignty. Indra, on being cursed by a Bramin, was hurled from his own heaven, and compelled to animate the body of a cat.29 Even Yama, the terrible judge of the dead, is said, in a legend, to have been cursed for an act done in that capacity, and obliged to undergo a transmigration into the person of a slave.30 The danger of all the gods from the sacrifices of one king has appeared in the fifth incarnation of Vishnu ; another king actually conquered the three worlds, and forced the gods, except the three chief ones, to fly, and to conceal themselves under the shapes of different animals ; 31 while a third went still further, and compelled the gods to worship him.32 These are a few out of numerous instances of a similar nature ; all, doubtless, invented to show the virtue of ritual observances, and thus increase the consequence and profits of the Bramins. But these are rather the traditions of former days, than the opinions by which men are now actuated in relation to the Divinity. The same objects which were formerly to be extorted by sacrifices and austerities are now to be won by faith. The followers of this new principle look with scarcely disguised contempt on the Vedas, and all the devotional exercises there enjoined. As no religion ever entirely discards morality, they still inculcate purity of life, and innocence, if not virtue ; but the sole essential is dependence on the par- ticular god of the sect of the individual teacher. Implicit faith and reliance on him makes up for all deficiencies in other respects ; while no attention to the forms of religion, or to the rules of morality, are of the slightest avail without this all-important sentiment. This system is explained and in- culcated in the Bhagavad Gita, which Mr. Colebrooke regards as the text-book of the school. It is an uncommon, though not exclusive feature in the Hindu religion, that the gods enjoy only a limited existence : at the end of a cycle of prodigious duration, the universe ceases to exist ; the triad, and all the other gods lose their being ; and the Great First Cause of all remains alone in in- finite space. After the lapse of ages, his power is again exerted ; and the whole creation, with all its human and divine inhabitants, rises once more into existence. One can hardly believe that so many rude and puerile fables, as most of those above related, are not the relics of the earliest and most barbarous times ; but even the sacred origin of the Christian religion did not prevent its being clouded, after the decay of learning, with supersti- 29 Ward, vol. iii. p. 31. 31 Kennedy's Researches, p. 368. 30 Ibid. p. 58. 32 Ward, vol. iii. p. 75. II. 4 TRANSMIGRATION 105 tions proportionately as degrading ; and we may therefore believe, with the best informed orientalists, that the Hindu system once existed in far greater purity, and has sunk into its present state along with the decline of all other branches of knowledge. In the above observations I have abstained from all re- ference to the religion of other countries. It is possible that antiquarians may yet succeed in finding a connexion, in principles or in origin, between the mythology of India and that of Greece or of Egypt ; but the external appearances are so different, that it would quite mislead the imagination to attempt to illustrate them by allusions to either of those superstitions.33 It only remains to say a few words on the belief of the Hindus relating to a future state. Their peculiar doctrine, as is well known, is transmigration ; but they believe that, between their different stages of existence, they will, according to their merits, enjoy thousands of years of happiness in some of the heavens already described, or suffer torments of similar duration in some of their still more numerous hells. Hope, however, seems to be denied to none : the most wicked man, after being purged of his crimes by ages of suffering and by repeated transmigrations, may ascend in the scale of being, until he may enter into heaven and even attain the highest reward of all the good, which is incorporation in the essence of God. Their descriptions of the future state of bliss and penance are spirited and poetical. The good, as soon as they leave the body, proceed to the abode of Yama, through delightful paths, under the shade of fragrant trees, among streams covered with the lotus. Showers of flowers fall on them as they pass ; and the air resounds with the hymns of the blessed, and the still more melodious strains of angels. The passage of the wicked is through dark and dismal paths ; sometimes over burning sand, sometimes over stones that cut their feet at every step : they travel naked, parched with thirst, covered with dirt and blood, amidst showers of hot ashes and burning coals ; they are terrified with frequent and horrible apparitions, and fill the air with their shrieks and wailing.34 The hells to which they are ultimately doomed are conceived in the same spirit, and described with a mixture of sublimity and minute- ness that almost recalls the " Inferno." These rewards and punishments are often well apportioned to the moral merits and demerits of the deceased : and they 33 [Cf. Professor Miiller's Lectures, second series, ix. x. xi. — ED.] 34 Ward on the Hindoos, vol. iii. p. 374. 106 THREE PRINCIPAL SECTS no doubt exercise considerable influence over the conduct of the living. But, on the other hand, the efficacy ascribed to faith, and to the observance of the forms of devotion, and the facility of expiating crimes by penances, are, unfortunately, prevailing characteristics of this religion, and have a strong tendency to weaken its effect in supporting the principles of morality. Its indirect influence on its votaries is even more injurious than these defects. Its gross superstition debases and de- bilitates the mind ; and its exclusive view to repose in this world, and absorption hereafter, destroys the great stimulants to virtue afforded by love of enterprise and of posthumous fame. Its usurpations over the provinces of law and science tend to keep knowledge fixed at the point to which it had attained at the time of the pretended revelation by the Divinity ; and its interference in the minutiae of private manners extirpates every habit and feeling of free agency, and reduces life to a mechanical routine. When individuals are left free, improvements take place as they are required ; and a nation is entirely changed in the course of a few generations without an effort on the part of any of its members ; but when religion has interposed, it requires as much boldness to take the smallest step, as to pass over the innovations of a century at a stride ; and a man must be equally prepared to renounce his faith and the communion of his friends, whether he merely makes a change in his diet, or embraces a whole body of doctrines, religious and political, at variance with those established among his countrymen. It is within its own limits that it has been least successful in opposing innovation. The original revelation, indeed, has not been questioned ; but different degrees of importance have been attached to particular parts of it, and different constructions put on the same passages ; and as there is neither a ruling council nor a single head to settle disputed points, and to enforce uniformity in practice, various sects have sprung up, which differ from each other both in their tenets and their practice. There are three principal sects : 35 Saivas (followers of Siva), the Vaishnavas (followers of Vishnu), and the Saktas (followers of some one of the Saktis ; that is, the female asso- ciates or active powers of the members of the triad). Each of these sects branches into various subordinate ones, depending on the different characters under which its deity 35 Almost the whole of the follow- essays on that subject, in Asiatic ing statements regarding the sects Researches, vols. xvi. xvii. are taken from Professor Wilson's II. 4 VARIOUS SECTS 107 is worshipped, or on the peculiar religious and metaphysical opinions which each has grafted on the parent stock. The Saktas have three additional divisions of a more general character, depending on the particular goddesses whom they worship. The followers of Devi (the spouse of Siva), however, are out of all comparison more numerous than both the others put together. Besides the three great sects, there are small ones, which worship Surya and Ganesa respectively ; and others which, though preserving the form of Hinduism, approach very near to pure deism. The Sikhs (who will be mentioned hereafter) have founded a sect involving such great innovations, that it may almost be regarded as a new religion. It must not be supposed that every Hindu belongs to one or other of the above sects. They, on the contrary, are alone reckoned orthodox, who profess a comprehensive system op- posed to the exclusive worship of particular divinities, and who draw their ritual from the Vedas, Pur anas, and other sacred books, rejecting the ceremonies derived from other sources. To this class the apparent mass of the Braminical order, at least, still belongs.36 But probably, even among them, all but the more philosophic religionists have a bias to one or the other of the contending divinities ; and the same may be said more decidedly of all such of the lower casts as are not careless of everything beyond the requisite ritual observances. It has been remarked that incarnations of Vishnu are the principal objects of popular predilection. In all Bengal and Hindostan it is to those incarnations that the re- ligious feelings of the people are directed ; and, though the temples and emblems of Siva are very common, the worshippers are few, and seem inspired with little veneration. Siva, it appears, has always been the patron God of the Bramin class, but has never much excited the imaginations of the people.37 Even where his sect ostensibly prevails, the great body of the inhabitants are much more attracted by the human feelings and interesting adventures of Rama and Crishna. The first of the two is the great object of de- votion (with the regular orders at least) on the banks of the Jumna and the north-western part of the Ganges ; but Crishna prevails, in his turn, along the lower course of the Ganges,88 and all the centre and west of Hindostan.39 Rama, however, is everywhere revered ; and his name, twice repeated, is the ordinary salutation among all classes of Hindus. 36 Professor Wilson, Asiatic Re- ^ Professor Wilson, Asiatic Re- searches, vol. xvi. p. 2. searches, vol. xvii. p. 52. 37 Ibid., vol. xvii. p. 169. 39 Tod's Bdjasthdn. 108 The Saivas, in all places, form a considerable portion of the regular orders : among the people they are most numerous in the Mysore and Maratta countries. Farther south, the Vaishnavas prevail ; but there the object of worship is Vishnu, not in his human form of Rama or Crishna, but in his abstract character, as preserver and ruler of the universe.40 Saktas, or votaries of the female divinity, are mixed with the rest ; but are most numerous in particular places. Three-fourths of the population of Bengal worship goddesses, and most of them Devi.41 In most of these instances the difference of sects, though often bitter, is not conspicuous. Europeans are seldom dis- tinctly aware of their existence, unless they have learned it from the writings of Mr. Colebrooke, Mr. Wilson, or Dr. Hamilton Buchanan. Even the painted marks on the fore- head, by which each man's sect is shown, although the most singular peculiarity of the Hindu dress, have failed to convey the information they are designed for, and have been taken for marks of the cast, not the sect, of the wearer. Persons desirous of joining a sect are admitted by a sort of initiation, the chief part of which consists in whispering by the guru (or religious instructor) of a short and secret form of words, which so far corresponds to the communication of the gayatri at the initiation of a Bramin. The sects are of very different degrees of antiquity. The separate worship of the three great gods and their corresponding goddesses is probably very ancient ; 42 but when the assertion of the supremacy of one or other began (in which the peculiarity of the present sects consists) is not so clear. It is probably much more modern than the mere separate worship of the great gods. It seems nearly certain that the sects founded on the worship of particular incarnations, as Rama, Crishna, etc., are later than the beginning of the eighth century of the Christian era.43 The number of sects has doubtless been increased by the disuse of the Vedas, the only source from which the Hindu religion could be obtained in purity. The use of those scrip- tures was confined to the three twice-born classes, of which 40 Buchanan MSS. at the India derives its name), is mentioned in the House. These may be either the " Periplus," attributed to Arrian, strictly orthodox Hindus, or followers and probably written in the 2nd of Ramanuj. century of our era. 41 Professor Wilson, Asiatic Re- 43 They are not mentioned in a searches, vol. xvii. pp. 210, 221. work written in the eleventh century, 42 Ibid. p. 218. The same gentle- but professing to exhibit the tenets man points out a convincing proof of of the different sects at the time of the early worship of the spouse of Sancara Acharya, who lived in the Siva. A temple to her, under her eighth century. — Professor Wilson, title of Comari (from which the neigh- Asiatic Researches, vol. xvi. p. 14. bouring promontory, Cape Comorin, II. 4 RITUAL 109 two are now regarded as extinct, and the remaining one is greatly fallen off from its original duties. It may have been owing to these circumstances that the old ritual was disused, and a new one has since sprung up, suited to the changes which have arisen in religious opinion. It is embodied in a comparatively modern collection of hymns, prayers, and incantations, which, mixed with portions of the Vedas, furnishes now what may be called the Hindu service.44 It is exhibited by Mr. Colebrooke, in three sepa- rate essays, in the fifth and seventh volumes of the Asiatic Researches. The difference between the spirit of this ritual and that of which we catch occasional views in Menu is less than might have been expected. The long instructions for the forms of ablution, meditation on the gayatri, etc., are consistent with the religion of the Vedas, and might have existed in Menu's time, though he had no occasion to mention them. The objects of adoration are in a great measure the same, being deities of the elements and powers of nature. The mention of Crishna is, of course, an innovation ; but it occurs seldom. Among other new practices are meditations on Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, in their corporeal form ; and, above all, the frequent mention of Vishnu with the introduction of the text, " Thrice did Vishnu step," etc., a passage in the Vedas, which seems to imply an allusion to the fifth incarnation,45 and, perhaps, owes the frequent introduction of it to the paucity of such acknowledgments. Mr. Colebrooke avowedly confines himself to the five sacraments which existed in Menu's time ; but there is a new sort of worship never alluded to in the Institutes, which now forms one of the principal duties of every Hindu. This is the worship of images, before whom many prostrations and other acts of adoration must daily be per- formed, accompanied with burning incense, offerings of flowers and fruits, and sometimes of dressed victuals. Many idols are also attired by their votaries, and decorated with jewels and other ornaments, and are treated in all respects as if they were human beings. The Hindu ceremonies are numerous, but far from im- pressive ; and their liturgy, judging from the specimen afforded by Mr. Colebrooke, though not without a few fine passages, is in general tedious and insipid. Each man goes through his daily devotions alone, in his own house, or at any temple, 44 Ward's Hindoos, vol. ii. p. 362. culmination, and setting, or to terres- 45 See page 98. [The Scholiast ex- trial fire, lightning, and the sun. — plains these three " steps " of Vishnu ED.] as referring to the sun at his rising, 110 SECTS AND THE MONASTIC ORDERS stream, or pool, that suits him ; so that the want of interest in his addresses to the divinity is not compensated by the effect of sympathy in others. Although the service (as it may be termed) is changed, the occasions for using it remain the same as those formerly enumerated from Menu. The same \f ceremonies must be performed from conception to the grave ; and the same regular course of prayers, sacrifices, and obla- tions must be gone through every day. More liberty, however, is taken in shortening them than was recognised in Menu's code, however it might have been in the practice of his age. A strict Bramin, performing his full devotions, would still be occupied for not less than four hours in the day. But even a Bramin, if engaged in worldly affairs, may perform all his religious duties within half an hour ; and a man of the lower classes contents himself by repeating the name of his patron deity while he bathes.46 The increase of sects is both the cause and consequence of the ascendency of the monastic orders. Each of these is in general devoted to some particular divinity, and its impor- tance is founded on the veneration in which its patron is held. They therefore inculcate faith in that divinity as the means of attaining all wishes and covering all sins ; and, in addition to this, they claim for themselves through life an implicit submission from their followers, such as the Bramin religious instructor in Menu required from his pupil during his period of probation alone. To this is to be ascribed the encroachments which those orders have made on the spiritual authority of the Bramins, and the feelings of rivalry and hostility with which the two classes regard each other. t/ <^j The Bramins, on their part, have not failed to profit by the example of the Gosayens, having taken on themselves the conduct of sects in the same manner as their rivals. Of the eighty-four Gurus (or spiritual chiefs) of the sect of Ramanuja, for instance, seventy-nine are secular Bramins.47 The power of these heads of sects is one of the most re- markable innovations in the Hindu system. Many of them in the south (especially those of regular orders) have large establishments, supported by grants of land and contributions from their flock. Their income is chiefly spent in charity, but they maintain a good deal of state, especially on their circuits, where they are accompanied by elephants, flags, etc., like temporal dignitaries, are followed by crowds of disciples, and are received with honour by all princes whose countries they enter. Their function is, indeed, an important 46 Ward on the Hindoos. 47 Buchanan's Journey, vol. i. p. ] 44 ; vol. ii. pp. 74, 75. II. 4 THE BAUDDHAS AND JAINAS 111 one, being no less than an inspection of the state of morals and cast, involving the duties and powers of a censor.48 Religion of the Bauddhas and Jainas There are two other religions, which, although distinct from that of the Hindus, appear to belong to the same stock, and which seem to have shared with it in the veneration of the people of India, before the introduction of an entirely foreign faith by the Mahometans. These are the religions of the Bauddhas (or worshippers of Buddha) and the Jains. They both resemble the Bramin doctrines in their character of quietism, in their tenderness of animal life, and in the belief of repeated transmigrations, of various hells for the purifica- tion of the wicked, and heavens for the solace of the good. The great object of all three is, the ultimate attainment of a state of perfect apathy, which, in our eyes, seems little different from annihilation ; and the means employed in all are, the practice of mortification and of abstraction from the cares and feelings of humanity. The differences from the Hindu belief are no less striking than the points of resemblance, and are most so in the religion of the Bauddhas. The most ancient of the Bauddha sects entirely denies the being of God ; and some of those which admit the existence of God refuse to acknowledge Him as the creator or ruler of the universe. According to the ancient atheistical sect, nothing exists but matter, which is eternal. The power of organisation is inherent in matter ; and although the universe perishes from time to time, this quality restores it after a period, and carries it on towards new decay and regeneration, without the guidance of any external agent. The highest rank in the scale of existence is held by certain beings called Buddhas, who have raised themselves by their own actions and austerities, during a long series of trans- migrations in this and former worlds, to the state of perfect inactivity and apathy, which is regarded as the great object of desire. Even this atheistical school includes intelligence and design among the properties inherent in every particle of matter ; and another sect 49 endeavours to explain those qualities more intelligibly by uniting them in one, and, perhaps, com- bining them with consciousness, so as to give them a sort of 48 Buchanan's Journey, vol. i. p. 21, and other places. 49 The Prajnikas. 112 A SUPREME BEING personality ; but the being formed by this combination remains in a state of perpetual repose, his qualities operating on the other portions of matter without exertion or volition on his part. The next approach to theism, and generally included in that creed, is the opinion that there is a Supreme Being,50 eternal, immaterial, intelligent, and also endued with free-will and moral qualities ; but remaining, as in the last-mentioned system, in a state of perpetual repose. With one division of those who believe in such a Divinity, he is the sole eternal and self-existing principle ; but another division associates matter with him as a separate deity, and supposes a being formed by the union of the other two to be the real originator of the universe. But the action of the Divinity is not, in any theory, carried beyond producing by his will the emanation of five (or some say seven) Buddhas from his own essence ; 51 and from these Buddhas proceed, in like manner, five (or seven) other beings called Bodhisatwas, each of whom, in his turn, is charged with the creation of a world. But so essential is quiescence to felicity and perfection, according to Buddhist notions, that even the Bodhisatwas are relieved as much as possible from the task of maintaining their own creations. Some speculators, probably, conceive that each constitutes the universe according to laws which enable it to maintain itself ; others suppose inferior agents created for the purpose ; and, according to one doctrine, the Bodhisatwa of the existing world produced the well-known Hindu triad, to whom he devolved his functions of creating, preserving, and destroying. There are different opinions regarding the Buddhas, who have risen to that rank by transmigrations.52 Some think with the atheistical school that they are separate productions of nature, like other men, and retain an independent existence after arriving at the much-desired state of rest ; while the other sects allege that they are emanations from the Supreme Being through some of the other Buddhas or Bodhisatwas, and are ultimately rewarded by absorption into the divine essence. There have been many of these human Buddhas in this 50 Called Adi Buddha, or supreme 51 [These are called the five dhydni intelligence. [Rather " primordial Buddhas, or Buddhas of contempla- Buddha." This doctrine of an Adi tion- We exist in the period of the Buddha seems to be no part of the fourth Bodhisatwa Aval o kites war a, original system of Buddhism, but to the emanation of the fourth Buddha have arisen in Nepal. Burnouf, Amitabha. — ED.] Buddhisme Indien i. p. 119. — ED.] 62 [These are called Mdnushi . — ED.] II. 4 THE BAUDDHAS 113 and former worlds ; 53 but the seven last are particularly noticed, and above all the last, whose name was Gotama or Sakya, who revealed the present religion, and established the rules of worship and morality ; and who, although long since passed into a higher state of existence, is con- sidered as the religious head of the world, and will continue so until he has completed his allotted period of five thousand years. Beneath this class of Buddhas are an infinite number of different degrees, apparently consisting of mere men who have made approaches towards the higher stages of perfection by the sanctity of their lives. Besides the chain of Buddhas, there are innumerable other celestial and terrestrial beings, some original, and others transferred, unchanged, from the Hindu Pantheon.54 The Buddhists of different countries differ in many par- ticulars from each other. Those of Nepal seem most imbued with the Hindu superstitions, though even in China the general character of the religion is clearly Indian. The theistical sect seems to prevail in Nepal,55 and the atheistical to subsist in perfection in Ceylon.56 In China, M. Abel Remusat considers the atheistical to be the vulgar doctrine, and the theistical to be the esoteric.57 The Bauddhas differ in many other respects from the Bramins : they deny the authority of the Vedas and Puranas ; they have no cast ; even the priests are taken from all classes of the community, and bear much greater resemblance to European monks than to any of the Hindu ministers of religion. They live in monasteries, wear a uniform yellow dress, go with their feet bare and their heads and beards shaved, and per- form a constant succession of regular service at their chapel in a body, and, in their processions, their chaunting, their 53 Mr. Hodgson (Asiatic Researches, of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta ; vol. xvi. p. 446) gives a list of 130 those of M. Joinville and Major Buddhas of the first order. Mahoney in vol. vii. of the Asiatic 54 The above account of the Baud- Researches ; together with Professor dha tenets is chiefly taken from the Wilson's observations in his history complete and distinct view of that of Cashmir (Asiatic Researches, vol. religion given by Mr. Hodgson, xvi.), and in his account of the Jains Asiatic Researches, vol. xvi. pp. (vol. xvii.) ; and likewise the answers 435-445 ; but I have also consulted of Bauddha priests in Upham's Sacred his "Proofs," etc., and his other and Historical Books of Ceylon, vol. iii. papers in the Transactions of the Royal K Mr. Hodgson. Asiatic Society of London, and in the M See answers to questions in Journal of the Asiatic Society of Upham, vol. iii. I presume theso Calcutta ; as well as those of M. Abel answers may be depended on, what- Remusat, in the Journal des Savans ever may be the case with the histori. for A.D. 1831, and in the Nouveau cal writings in the same work. Journal Asiatique for the same year ; 57 Journal dea Savins for Nov. 1831. those of M. Csoma do Koros, Journal 114 RESPECT FOR ANIMAL LIFE incense, and their candles, bear a strong resemblance to the ceremonies of the Catholic Church.58 They have nothing of the freedom of the Hindu monastic orders ; they are strictly bound to celibacy, and renounce most of the pleasures of sense ; 59 they eat together in one hall ; sleep sitting in a pre- scribed posture, and seem never allowed to leave the monastery except once a week, when they march in a body to bathe,60 and for part of every day, when they go to beg for the com- munity, or rather to receive alms, for they are not permitted to ask for anything.61 The monks, however, only perform service in the temples attached to their own monasteries, and to them the laity do not seem to be admitted, but pay their own devotions at other temples, out of the limits of the convents. Nunneries for women seem also, at one time, to have been general. The Bauddha religionists carry their respect for animal life much further than the Bramins : their priests do not eat after noon, nor drink after dark, for fear of swallowing minute insects ; and they carry a brush on all occasions, with which they carefully sweep every place before they sit down, lest they should inadvertently crush any living creature. Some even tie a thin cloth over their mouths to prevent their drawing in small insects with their breath,62 They differ from the Bramins in their want of respect for fire, and in their veneration for relics of their holy men, — a feeling unknown to the Hindus. Over these relics (a few hairs, a bone, or a tooth) they erect those solid cupolas, or bell-shaped monuments, which are often of stupendous size, and which are so great a characteristic of their religion. The Buddhas are represented standing upright, but more generally seated cross-legged, erect, but in an attitude of deep meditation, with a placid countenance, and always with curled hair. Besides the temples and monuments, in countries where the Bauddhas still subsist, there are many magnificent remains of them in India. The most striking of these are cave temples, in the Penin- sula. Part of the wonderful excavations of Ellora are of this 58 Mr. Davis, Transactions of the 61 Captain Mahoney, Asiatic Re- Royal Asiatic Society, vol. ii. p. 49 1 ; searches, vol. vii. p. 42 ; and Mr. Turner's Tibet. Knox, Transactions of the Royal 69 Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Asiatic Society, vol. iii. p. 277. Society, vol. iii. p. 273. 62 The laity eat animal food with- 0 Mr. Davis, Transactions of the out restraint ; even the priests may Royal Asiatic Society, vol. ii. p. 495 ; eat it, if no animal is killed on their and Knox, Ibid. vol. iii. p. 277. account. II. 4 THE JAINS 115 description ; but the finest is at Carla, between Puna and Bombay, which, from its great length and height, the colonnades which run along the sides like aisles, and the vaulted and ribbed roof, strongly recalls the idea of a Gothic church.63 The Bauddhas have a very extensive body of literature, all on the Bramin model, and all originally from India.64 It is now preserved in the local dialects of various countries, in many of which the long-established art of printing has contributed much to the diffusion of books. Pali, or the local dialect of Magadha (one of the ancient kingdoms on the Ganges, in which Sakya or Gotama flourished), seems to be the language generally used in the religious writings of the Bauddhas, although its claim to be their sacred language is disputed in favour of Sanscrit and of other local dialects springing from that root.65 The Jains hold an intermediate place between the followers of Buddha and Brahma.66 They agree with the Bauddhas in denying the existence, or at least the activity and providence, of God ; in believing in the eternity of matter ; in the worship of deified saints ; in their scrupulous care of animal life, and all the precautions which it leads to ; in their having no hereditary priesthood ; in disclaiming the divine authority of the Vedas ; and in having no sacrifices, and no respect for fire. They agree with the Bauddhas also in considering a state of impassive abstraction as supreme felicity, and in all the doctrines which they hold in common with the Hindus. They agree with the Hindus in other points ; such as division of cast. This exists in full force in the south and west of India ; and can only be said to be dormant in the north- east ; for, though the Jains there do not acknowledge the four classes of the Hindus, yet a Jain converted to the Hindu religion takes his place in one of the casts ; from which he must all along have retained the proofs of his descent ; and the Jains 63 The distinctions between the among the northern Buddhists, and Bauddhas and Hindus are mostly current in Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, from an essay by Mr. Erskine, Bom- China, and Japan, and that in Pali bay Transactions, vol. ii. p. 503, etc. among the Southern, in Ceylon, Bur- 64 Mr. Hodgson, Asiatic Researches, mah, and Siam. The latter is be- vol. xvi. p. 433 ; Dr. Buchanan, ibid. lieved to be the more ancient, and vol. vi. pp. 194, 225, and other places. the older portion is supposed to have [The sacred books are divided into been committed to writing about three classes, the Sutras or discourses B.C. 90. — ED.] of Buddha, the vinaya or ethics, and 66 The characteristics of the Jains, the abhidharma or metaphysics. — as compared with the Bauddhas and ED.] Bramins, are mostly taken from Mr. 65 [We have two different recur- Erskine, Bombay Transactions, vol. sions of the tri-pitaka or sacred books iii. p. 506. of the Buddhists, — that in Sanskrit 116 THE PLACE OF THE SAINTS themselves have numerous divisions of their own, the members of which are as strict in avoiding intermarriages and other intercourse as the four classes of the Hindus.67 Though they reject the scriptural character of the Vedas, they allow them great authority in all points not at variance with their religion. The principal objections to them are drawn from the bloody sacrifices which they enjoin, and the loss of animal life which burnt-offerings are liable (though undesignedly) to occasion.68 They admit the whole of the Hindu gods and worship some of them ; though they consider them as entirely subordinate to their own saints, who are therefore the proper objects of adoration. Besides these points common to the Bramins or Bauddhas, they hold some opinions peculiar to themselves. The chief objects of their worship are a limited number of saints, who have raised themselves by austerities to a superiority over the gods, and who exactly resemble those of the Bauddhas in appearance and general character, but are entirely distinct from them in their names and individual histories. They are called Tirthankaras : there are twenty-four for the pre- sent age, but twenty-four also for the past, and twenty-four for the future.69 Those most worshipped are, in some places, Rishabha,70 the first of the present Tirthankaras ; but everywhere Pars- wanath, and Mahavira, the twenty- third and twenty-fourth of the number.71 As all but the last two bear a fabulous character in their dimensions and length of life, it has been conjectured, with great appearance of truth, that these two are the real founders of the religion. All remain alike in the usual state of apathetic beatitude, and take no share in the government of the world.72 Some changes are made by the Jains in the rank and cir- cumstances of the Hindu gods. They give no preference to the greater gods of the Hindus ; and they have increased the number of gods, and added to the absurdities of the system : thus they have sixty-four Indras, and twenty- two Devis.73 67 De la Maine, Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 413 ; Colebrooke, ibid. p. 549 ; Buchanan, ibid. pp. 531, 532 ; Wilson, Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii. p. 239. 68 Wilson, Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii. p. 248. 69 [Trithankara means " one who crosses the ocean of existence." They are also called Arhats, or " entitled to the homage of gods and men," and Jinas, or " victors over human passions and infirmity." From the last title comes " Jaina." — ED.] 70 Major de la Maine, Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 424. 71 Professor Wilson, Asiatic Re- searches, vol. xvii. p. 248. 72 Professor Wilson, Asiatic Re- searches, vol. xvii. p. 270. 73 Major de la Maine, Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 422. II. 4 JAIN TEMPLES AND CAVES 117 They have no veneration for relics, and no monastic esta- blishments. Their priests are called Jatis ; 74 they are of all casts, and their dress, though distinguishable from that of the Bramins, bears some resemblance to it. They wear very large, loose, white mantles, with their heads bare, and their hair and beard clipped ; and carry a black rod and a brush for sweeping away animals. They subsist by alms. They never bathe, perhaps in opposition to the incessant ablutions of the Bramins. The Jain temples are generally very large and handsome ; often flat-roofed, and like private houses, with courts and colonnades ; but sometimes resembling Hindu temples, and sometimes circular and surrounded by colossal statues of the Tirthankaras.75 The walls are painted with their peculiar legends, mixed, perhaps, with those of the Hindus. Besides images, they have marble altars, with the figures of saints in relief, and with impressions of the footsteps of holy men ; a memorial which they have in common with the Bauddhas. By far the finest specimens of Jain temples of the Hindu form are the noble remains in white marble on the mountain of Abu, to the north of Guzerat. There are Jain caves also, on a great scale, at Ellora, Nassik, and other places ; and there is, near Chinraipatan, in the Mysore, a statue of one of the Tirthankaras, cut out of a rock, which has been guessed at different heights, from 54 to 70 feet. The Jains have a considerable body of learning, resembling that of the Bramins, but far surpassing even the extravagance of the Braminical chronology and geography ; increasing to hundreds of millions what was already sufficiently absurd at millions. Their sacred language is Magadhi or Pali. A question has arisen, which of the three religions above described was first established in India. It resolves itself into a discussion of the claims of those of Buddha and Brahma.76 Admitting the common origin of the two systems, which the similarity of the fundamental 74 ["The Jains are divided into of which they were once members." religious and lay orders, Yatis and — Wilson, Asiatic Researches, xv. ii. Sravakas. The reader in a Jain — ED.] temple is a Yati ; but the ministrant 75 There is a magnificent one of this priest, the attendant on the images, description near Ahmedabad, built the receiver of offerings, and conduc- under ground, and said to have been tor of all usual ceremonies, is a Brah- designed for concealed worship during man. The Yatis lead a religious life, the persecution by the Hindus, subsisting on the alms supplied by 76 The arguments on both sides are the Sravakas. They are sometimes summed up with great clearness and collected in maths, called by them impartiality by Mr. Erskine, in the posdlas, and even when abroad in the Bombay Transactions, vol. iii. pp. world they acknowledge a sort of 495 — 503. Even the summary is too obedience to the head of the posdla long to be inserted in this place. 118 ORIGINS OF THE FAITHS tenets would appear to prove, the weight of the arguments adduced appears to lean to the side of the Bramins ; and an additional .reason may perhaps be drawn from the im- probability that the Bauddha system could ever have been an original one. A man as yet unacquainted with religious feelings would imbibe his first notions of a God from the perception of powers superior to his own. Even if the idea of a quiescent Divinity could enter his mind, he would have no motive to adore it, but would rather endeavour to propitiate the sun on which he depended for warmth, or the heavens, which terrified him with their thunders. Still less would he commence by the worship of saints ; for sanctity is only conformity to religious notions already established ; and a religion must have obtained a strong hold on a people before they would be disposed to deify their fellows for a strict adherence to its injunctions ; especially if they neither supposed them to govern the world, nor to mediate with its ruler. The Hindu religion presents a more natural course. It rose from the worship of the powers of nature to theism, and then declined into scepticism with the learned, and man worship with the vulgar. The doctrines of the Sankhya school of philosophers seem reflected in the atheism of the Bauddha ; 77 while the hero worship of the common Hindus, and their extravagant venera- tion for religious ascetics, are much akin to the deification of saints among the Buddhas. We are led, therefore, to suppose the Bramin faith to have originated in early times, and that of Buddha to have branched off from it at a period when its orthodox tenets had reached their highest perfection, if not shown a tendency to decline. The historical information regarding these religions tends to the same conclusion. The Vedas are supposed to have been arranged in their present form about the fourteenth century before Christ, and the religion they teach must have made considerable previous progress ; while scarcely one 77 [" La doctrine de Cakya se place ainsi que le voulait tout le monde on opposition an Brahmanisme, dans 1'Inde. Mais il n'affranchit pas comme une morale sans Dieu et 1'esprit comme faisaient les Sankhyas comme un atheisme sans Nature. en le detachant pour jamais de la Ce qu'il nie, c'est le Dieu eternel des Nature, ni comme faisaient les Brah- Brahmanes, et la Nature eternelle des manes en le replongeant au sein du Sankhyas ; ce qu'il admet, c'est la Brahma 6ternel et absolu ; il an6antit multiplicite et 1* individuality des les conditions de son existence rela- ames humaines, des Sankhyas, et la tive en la precipitant dans le vide, transmigration des Brahmanes. Ce c'est-a-dire, selon toute apparence, qu'il veut atteindre, c'est la deliv- en 1'aneantissement." - Burnouf, ranee ou I'affrannhissement de 1'esprit Buddhisme Ind., i. 521. — ED.] II. 4 DATE OF BUDDHA'S APPEARANCE 119 even of its most zealous advocates has claimed for that of Buddha a higher antiquity than the tenth or eleventh century before Christ, and the best authenticated accounts limit it to the sixth. All the nations professing the religion of Buddha concur in referring its origin to India.78 They unite in representing the founder to have been Sakya Muni or Gotama, a native of Capilavastu, north of Gorakpur. By one account he was a Cshatriya, and by others the son of a king. Even the Hindus confirm this account, making him a Cshatriya, and son to a king of the solar race. They are not so well agreed about the date of his appearance. The Indians and the people of Ava, Siam, and Ceylon, fix it near the middle of the sixth century before Christ,79 an epoch which is borne out by various particulars in the list of kings of Magadha. The Cashmirians, on the other hand, place Sakya 1332 years before Christ ; the Chinese, Mongols, and Japanese about 1000 ; and of thirteen Tibetan authors referred to in the same Oriental Magazine, four give an average of 2,959 ; and nine of 835 ; 80 while the great religious work of Tibet, by asserting that the general council 81 held by Asoca was 110 years after Buddha's death,82 brings down that event to less than 400 years before Christ, as Asoca will be shown, on incontestable evidence, to have lived less than 300 years before our era.83 One Chinese author also differs from the rest, fixing 688 years before Christ ; 84 and the Chinese and Japanese tables, which make the period of Sakya's eminence 999 years before 78 For the Chinese, see De Guignes, Oriental Magazine, vol. iv. pp. 106, Memoires de V Academic des Inscrip- 107 ; and Wilson, Asiatic Researches, tions, vol. xl. p. 187, etc. ; Abel vol. xv. p. 92. Remusat, Journal des Savans for S1 [Three general councils play an November, 1831 ; and the summary important part in Buddhist legend, in the Nouveau Journal Asiatique, The Buddhists of Tibet and Ceylou vol. vii. pp. 239, 240 ; and likewise agree in fixing the first as held imme- the Essay in the next month, p. 241. diately after Buddha's death ; but For the Mongols, see M. Klaproth, they differ as to the others. The Nouveau Journal Asiatique, vol. vii., Tibetans fix the second 110 years especially p. 182, and the following afterwards, in the reign of Asoka, pages. For Ceylon, see Tumour's king of Pataliputra ; and the third Mahdwanso, with which the Scrip- more than 400 years after Buddha's tures of Ava and Siam are identical. death, under Kanishka (the Kanerki (Introduction, p. xxx.) For Tibet, of the coins). The Ceylonese fix the see M. Csoma de Koros, Journal of second under Kalasoka, 100 years the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, vol. i. after Buddha, and the third under p. 1. the great Asoka, 235 years after 79 See Tumour's Mahdwanso : Buddha. — ED.] Chronological Table from Crawford's 82 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Embassy to Ava (given in Prinsep's Calcutta, vol. i. p. 6. Useful Tables, p. 132) ; see also Use- 83 See Book hi. Ch. iii. ful Tables, pp. 77, 78. 84 De Guignes, Memoires de VAca- 80 See their various dates in the dern/ie des Inscriptions, vol. xl. p. 195. 120 INDIAN ORIGIN OF THE BAUDDHAS Christ, say that it occurred during the reign of Ajata Satru, whose place in the list of Magadha kings shows him to have lived in the sixth century before Christ. These discrepancies are too numerous to be removed by the supposition that they refer to an earlier and a later Buddha ; and that expedient is also precluded by the identity of the name, Sakya. and of every circumstance in the lives of the persons to whom such different dates are assigned. We must, therefore, either pronounce the Indian Bauddhas to be ignorant of the date of a religion which arose among them- selves, and at the same time must derange the best established part of the Hindu chronology ; or admit that an error must have occurred in Cashmir or Tibet, through which places it crept into the more eastern countries, when they received the religion of Buddha many years after the death of its founder. As the latter seems by much the most probable explanation, we may safely fix the death of Buddha about 550 B.C.85 The Indian origin of the Bauddhas would appear, inde- pendently of direct evidence, from the facts that their theology, mythology, philosophy, geography, chronology, etc., are almost entirely of the Hindu family ; and all the terms used in those sciences are Sanscrit. Even Buddha (intelligence), and Adi Buddha (supreme intelligence), are well-known Sanscrit words.86 We have no precise information regarding the early progress of this religion. It was triumphant in Hindostan in the reign of Asoca, about the middle of the third century before Christ.87 It was introduced by his missionaries into Ceylon in the end of the same century.88 It probably spread at an earlier period into Tartary and Tibet, but was not introduced into China until A.D. 65, when it was brought direct from India, and was not fully established till A.D. 310.89 The progress of its decline in its original seat is recorded by a Chinese traveller, who visited India on a religious ex- pedition in the first years of the fifth century after Christ. 90 85 Prof. Max Miiller prefers 477 B.C. See Hist. Ancient Sansk. Lit., p. 298. —ED.] 86 [Buddha means " wise," and Adi Buddha " the primordial wise or Buddha."— ED.] 87 See Tumour's Mahdwanso, and translations of contemporary inscrip- tions in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta for February, 1838. 88 In 307 B.C. Tumour's wanso, Introduction, p. xxix, and other places. 89 De Guignes, Memoires de V Aca- demic des Inscriptions, vol. xl. pp. 251, 252 ; and Histoires des Huns, vol. i. part ii. pp. 235, 236. 90 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. IX. p. 108, etc., particu- larly p. 139. [On these Chinese Buddhist travellers, see Additional Appendix. — ED.] II. 4 PROGRESS OF BUDDHISM 121 He found Buddhism flourishing in the tract between China and India, but declining in the Pan jab, and languishing in the last stage of decay in the countries on the Ganges and Jumna. Capila, the birthplace of Buddha, was ruined and deserted,— " a wilderness untenanted by man." His religion was in full vigour in Ceylon, but had not yet been introduced into Java, which island was visited by the pilgrim on his return by sea to China. The religion of Buddha afterwards recovered its importance in some parts of India. Its adherents were refuted, perse- cuted, and probably chased from the Deckan, by Sancara Acharya, in the eighth or ninth century, if not by Cumarila at an earlier period ; but they appear to have possessed sove- reignty in Hindostan in the eighth century, and even to have been the prevailing sect at Benares as late as the eleventh century,91 and in the north of Guzerat as late as the twelfth century of our era.92 They do not now exist in the plains of India, but their religion is the established one in Ceylon, and in some of the mountainous countries to the north-east of the provinces on the Ganges. Buddhism is also the faith of the Burman Empire, of Tibet, of Siam, and all the countries between India and China. It is very general in the latter country, and ex- tends over a great part of Chinese and Russian Tartary ; so that it has been said, with apparent truth, to be professed by a greater portion of the human race than any other religion. The Jains appear to have originated in the sixth or seventh century of our era ; to have become conspicuous in the eighth or ninth century ; got to the highest prosperity in the eleventh, and declined after the tAvelfth.93 Their principal seats seem to have been in the southern parts of the peninsula, and in Guzerat and at the west of Hindostan. They seem never to have had much success in the provinces on the Ganges. They appear to have undergone several persecutions by the Bramins, in the south of India, at least.94 The Jains are still very numerous, especially in Guzerat, the Rajput country, and Canara ; they are generally an opulent and mercantile class ; many of them are bankers, and possess a large proportion of the commercial wealth of India.95 91 Professor Wilson, Asiatic Re- 94 Buchanan, vol. i. p. 81. searches, vol. xvii. p. 282. 95 Tod's Rdjasthdn, vol. i. p. 518 ; 92 Mr. Erskine, Bombay Transac- Professor Wilson, Asiatic Researches, tions, vol. iii. p. 533, with Major vol. xvii. p. 294. See also Buch- Kennedy's note. anan's Journey, vol. iii. pp. 19, 76-84, 93 Prof. Wilson, Asiatic Researches, 131, 410. vol. xvii. p. 283. 122 PHILOSOPHY CHAPTER V PRESENT STATE OF PHILOSOPHY l Six principal schools — Purpose of knowledge — Means of attaining knowledge — Principles — Constitution of animated corporeal beings — Intellectual creation — General view of the Sankhya doctrine — Separate doctrines of the atheistical and theistical branches — Yogis — God the sole existence — Points of resemblance to Aristotle — General classification according to Gotama's school — Heads or topics — 1st Head : Proof — 2nd Head : Objects of proof ; its subdivisions — 1. Soul — 2. Body — 3. Organs of sense — 4. Objects of sense — 3rd Head : Doubt — Metaphysical opinions — Doctrine of atoms — Resemblance to some of the Greek schools, especially to Pythagoras. THE subject of philosophy is not one upon which Menu pro- fesses to treat. It is, however, incidentally mentioned in his first chapter, and it has occupied too great a portion of the attention of the Hindus of later days to be omitted in any account of their genius and character. The first chapter of the Institutes is evidently an exposition of the belief of the compiler, and (unlike the laws, which have been framed in various ages) probably represents the state of opinion as it stood in his time. The topics on which it treats — the nature of God and the soul, the creation, and other subjects, physical and meta- physical— are too slightly touched on to show whether any of the present schools of philosophy were then in their present form ; but the minute points alluded to as already known, and the use of the terms still employed, as if quite intelligible to its readers, prove that the discussions which have given rise to their different systems were already perfectly familiar to the Hindus. The present state of the science will be best shown by inquiring into the tenets of those schools. There are six ancient schools of philosophy recognised among the Hindus. Some of these are avowedly inconsistent with the religious doctrines of the Bramins ; and others, though perfectly orthodox, advance opinions not stated in the Vedas. These schools are enumerated in the following order by Mr. Colebrooke.2 1 [The subject of Hindu philosophy Gore, originally written in Hindu, and is far too wide to be treated in a translated by Dr. Hall (Calcutta, single chapter. The reader who 1862). These works (as well as Dr. desires to study it further is referred Ballantyne's translations) contain an to two works published in India by immense amount of information on two Christian Brahmans — Dialogues this most interesting subject. I have on Hindu Philosophy, by the Rev. only added a few notes to explain the K. M. Banerjea (Calcutta, 1860), and text. — ED.] Refutation of Hindu Philosophy, by 2 Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Pundit Nehemiah Nilkanth Sastri Society, vol. i. p. 19. II. 5 SIX PRINCIPAL SCHOOLS 123 1. The prior Mimansa, founded by Jaimani. 2. The latter Mimansa, or Vedanta, attributed to Vyasa. 3. The Nyaya, or logical school of Gotama. 4. The Vaiseshika, or atomic school of Canada. 5. The Sankhya, or atheistical school of Capila. 6. The Yoga, or theistical school of Patanjali. These last two schools agree in many points, and are in- cluded in the common name of Sankhya. This division does not give a complete idea of the present state of philosophy. The prior Mimansa, which teaches the art of reasoning with the express view of aiding the in- terpretation of the Vedas, is, so far, only a school of criticism ; and its object, being to ascertain the duties enjoined in those scriptures, is purely religious, and gives it no claim to a place among the schools of philosophy.3 On the other hand, the re- maining schools have branched into various subdivisions, each of which is entitled to be considered as a separate school, and to form an addition to the original number. It would be foreign to my object to enter on all the distinctions between those philosophical systems. An outline of the two most contrasted of the six principal schools, with a slight notice of the rest, will be sufficient to give an idea of the progress made by the nation in this department of science. The two schools selected for this summary examination are the Sankhya and Vedanta.4 The first maintains the eternity of matter, and its principal branch denies the being of God. The other school derives all things from God, and one sect denies the reality of matter. All the Indian systems, atheistical as well as theistical, agree in their object, which is, to teach the means of obtaining beatitude, or, in other words, exemption from metempsychosis, and deliverance from all corporeal encumbrances.5 3 [The prior Mimansa, however, in cause Jaimini's school confined their the course of its critical irivestiga- attention to the Karma Kdnda, the tions, discusses various philosophical ceremonial or exoteric part of the doctrines. It appears to have been Veda, while the " latter " or uttara originally atheistical, the sacrifices Mimansa treated of the higher or and other ceremonies which it so esoteric portion contained in the zealously upholds being said to pro- Upanishads. But there are many duce their fruit by an inherent law or reasons for believing that the so- fate. One of its most curious specu- called " Prior " school was much lations is the doctrine of an eternal earlier than the Vedanta. — ED.] sound underlying all temporary 4 [For an elaborate account of each sounds ; this is by some identified see Refutation of Hindu Philosophy, with Brahma. The grammarians sections i. iii. — ED.] have naturally adopted this doctrine, 5 [Thus the Nyaya Aphorisms open to give dignity to their favourite with the following : " misery, succes- study. The title purva or " prior " sive births, activity, defect, ignor- seems to have no reference to priority ance ; when any one of these is re- of time, but to have been given, be- moved, all that precede it go with it ; 124 THE SANKHYA SCHOOL Sdnkhya School, Atheistical and Theistical This school is divided, as has been mentioned, into two branches, that of Capila, which is atheistical, and that of Patanjali, acknowledging God ; but both agree in the following opinions : — 6 Deliverance can only be gained by true and perfect know- ledge.7 This knowledge consists in discriminating the principles, perceptible and imperceptible, of the material world from the sensitive and cognitive principle, which is the immaterial soul.8 True knowledge is attained by three kinds of evidence, perception, inference, and affirmation (or testimony).9 The principles of which a knowledge is thus derived are twenty-five in number,10 viz. : 1. Nature, the root or plastic origin of all ; the universal material cause. It is eternal matter ; undiscrete, destitute of parts ; productive, but not produced ; the equilibrium of the three qualities. 2. Intelligence ; the first production of nature, increate,11 prolific ; being itself productive of other principles. 3. Consciousness, which proceeds from intelligence, and the peculiar function of which is the sense of self -existence, the belief that " I am." and then ensues final emancipation." From ignorance comes " defect," viz. that we desire or hate or are stupidly indifferent ; from " defect " arises " activity," viz. that we seek or avoid or are stupidly apathetic ; and from this mistaken " activity " arises merit, or demerit, which necessitates our passing into some new birth after death, to receive the reward or pun- ishment of our deeds. Thus all the weary round of conscious existence springs from " ignorance," as its root ; and it is the aim of the Hindu jijndsd to eradicate this fatal seed. — ED.] 6 Mr. Colebrooke, Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 31. 7 Ibid. p. 26. 8 Ibid. p. 27. [Nature is impercep- tible (avyakta), those numbered 2-24 are perceptible (vyakta), to higher beings, if not to man. — ED.] 9 Ibid. p. 28. [The various kinds pf proofs or sources of knowledge (pramdna), as admitted in the dif- ferent schools, form an interesting part of Hindu philosophy. Thus the Charvakas or materialists admit only sense-perception (pratyaksha) ; the Vaiseshikas add inference (anum- dna] ; the Sankhyas testimony (sabda) ; the Naiyayikas analogy (upamdna) ; the Vedantins further add presumption (arthdpatti), which corresponds to our disjunctive hypo- thetical syllogism, and non-percep- tion or negative proof (anupalabdhi). Besides these proofs of the six ortho- dox schools, other sections increase the number to nine by adding equiva- lence (sambhava), fallible testimony (aitihya), and gesture (chestd). — ED.] 10 Ibid. pp. 29-31. 11 The contradiction between the two first terms might be explained by supposing that intelligence, though depending on nature for its existence, is co-eternal with the principle from which it is derived, II. 5 THE SOUL 125 4 to 8. From consciousness spring five particles, rudiments, or atoms, productive of the five elements.12 9 to 19. From consciousness also spring eleven organs of sense and action. Ten are external ; five instruments of the senses (the eye, ear, etc.), and five instruments of action (the voice, the hands, the feet, etc.). The eleventh organ is internal, and is mind, which is equally an organ of sense and of action. 20 to 24. The five elements are derived from the five particles above mentioned (4 to 8). They are ether, air, fire, water, and earth. 25. The last principle is soul, which is neither produced nor productive. It is multitudinous, individual, sensitive, un- alterable, immaterial. It is for the contemplation of nature, and for abstraction from it, that the union between the soul and nature takes place. By that union creation, consisting in the develop- ment of intellect, and the rest of the principles, is effected.13 The soul's wish is fruition, or liberation. For either purpose it is invested with a subtile person, composed of intellect, consciousness, mind, the organs of sense and action, and the five principles of the elements. This person is unconfined, free from all hindrance, affected by sentiments ; but in- capable of enjoyment, until invested with a grosser frame, composed of the elements ; which is the body, and is perishable. The subtile person is more durable, and accompanies the soul in its transmigrations.14 The corporeal creation, consisting of souls invested with gross bodies, comprises fourteen orders of beings ; eight above, and five inferior to man. The superior orders are composed of the gods and other spirits recognised by the Hindus ; the inferior, of animals, plants, and inorganic substances.15 Besides the grosser corporeal creation, and the subtile or personal (all belonging to the material world), the Sankhya distinguishes an intellectual creation, consisting of the affections of the intellect, its sentiments and faculties. 12 Rather, rudiments of the percep- verse, however, has an existence other tions by which the elements are made than that which it possesses from its known to the mind ; as sound, the connection with any particular soul, rudiment of ether ; touch, of air ; inasmuch as Hiranyagarbha, the per- smell, of earth, etc. [i.e. form of fire sonified sum of existence, may be said and taste of water]. — Wilson's Sank- to unify in his ideal creation the sepa- hya Cdrikd, pp. 17, 119. rate sub-creations of all inferior 13 [It is this peculiar idea of in- beings. — ED.] dividual creation which gives to the u Mr. Colebrooke, Transactions of Sankhya an apparent resemblance to the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 32. Berkeley's theory. Each soul creates 15 Ibid. p. 33. its own world, — the material uni- 126 THE SANKHYA SYSTEM These are enumerated in four classes, as obstructing, dis- abling, contenting, or perfecting the understanding.16 The Sankhya, like all the Indian schools, pays much atten- tion to three essential qualities or modifications of nature. These are, 1. goodness ; 2. passion ; 3. darkness. They appear to effect all beings, animate and inanimate. Through goodness, for instance, fire ascends, and virtue and happiness are produced in man ; it is passion which causes tempests in the air, and vice among mankind ; darkness gives their downward tendency to earth and water, and in man produces stolidity as well as sorrow. Eight modes appertaining to intellect are derived from these qualities : on the one hand, virtue, knowledge, dispassion, and power ; and on the other, sin, error, incontinency, and powerlessness. Each of these is subdivided : power, for instance, is eightfold. The opinions which have above been enumerated, as mere dogmas of the Sankhya philosophers, are demonstrated and explained at great length in their works. Mr. Colebrooke gives some specimens of their arguments and discussions ; the fault of which, as is usual in such cases, seems to be a disposition to run into over-refinement.17 In endeavouring to find out the scope of the Sankhya system, which is somewhat obscured by the artificial form in which it is presented by its inventors, we are led at first to think that this school, though atheistical, and, in the main, material, does not differ very widely from that which derives all things from spirit. From nature comes intelligence ; from intelligence, consciousness ; from consciousness, the senses and the subtile principles of the elements ; from these principles, the grosser elements themselves. From the order of this procession it would appear that, although matter be eternal, its forms are derived from spirit, and have no existence independent of perception. 16 The catalogue is very extensive ; 3. Content, or acquiescence, in- for, though the principal heads are volves nine divisions ; all appear to stated at fifty, there appear to be relate to total or partial omission of numerous sub-divisions. exertion, to procure deliverance or The following may serve as a speci- beatitude. men, selected from that given by Mr. 4. Perfecting the intellect is of Colebrooke, which is itself very much eight sorts ; three consist in ways of condensed : preventing evil, and the remaining 1. Obstructions of the intellect five are reasoning, oral instruction, are — error, conceit, passion, hatred, study, amicable intercourse, and fear. These are severally explained, purity, internal and external. and comprise sixty-two subdivisions. 17 Mr. Colebrooke, Transactions of 2. Disabilities are of twenty-eight the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. pp. sorts, arising from defect or injury of 33-37. organs, etc. II. 5 SOUL AND BODY 127 But this is not the real doctrine of the school. It is a pro- perty inherent in nature to put forth those principles in their order ; and a property in soul to use them as the means of obtaining a knowledge of nature ; but these operations, though coinciding in their object, are independent in their origin. Nature and the whole multitude of individual souls are eternal ; and though each soul is united with intellect and the other productions of nature, it exercises no control over their de- velopment. Its union, indeed, is not with the general intellect, which is the first production of nature, but with an individual intellect derived from that primary production.18 At birth, each soul is invested with a subtile body,19 which again is clad in a grosser body. The connection between soul and matter being thus established, the organs communicate the sensations occasioned by external nature : mind combines them : consciousness gives them a reference to the individual ; intellect draws inferences, and attains to knowledge not within the reach of the senses : 20 soul stands by as a spectator, and not an actor ; perceiving all, but affected by nothing ; as a mirror which receives all images, without itself undergoing any change,21 When the soul has completely seen and under- stood nature, its task is performed : it is released, and the connection between nature and that individual soul is dissolved . Nature (to use an illustration from the text-book) exhibits herself like an actress : she desists when she has been per- fectly seen ; and the soul attains to the great object of liberation. Thus it appears that the soul takes no part in the operations of nature, and is necessary to none of them : sensation, con- sciousness, reasoning, judgment, would all go on equally if it were away.22 Again : it is for the purpose of the liberation of 18 [Every individual soul has from I must run away." And again : eternity been continually in connec- " As the headmen of a village collect tion with Nature, and repeated crea- the taxes from the villagers and pay tions have resulted from this connec- them to the governor of the district ; tion. Nature is said to be enlightened as the local governor pays the amount by its proximity to Soul, and Soul by to the minister, and the minister re- its proximity becomes a witness of ceives it for the use of the king ; so Nature, as a colourless crystal be- mind, having received ideas from the comes red by proximity to a red rose. external organs, transfers them to — ED.] individuality, and this delivers them 19 Mr. Colebrooke, Transactions of to intellect, which is the general the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 40. superintendent, and takes charge of 20 Ibid. pp. 31, 38. The general them for the use of the sovereign, outline of the series of functions Soul." — Wilson's Sankhya Kdr., pp. involved in an act of perception is 107, 117. illustrated in two ways by the native 31 Mr. Colebrooke, Transactions of writers : ' Thus the ear hears the the Royal Asiatiic Society, vol. i. p. 42. twang of a bowstring ; mind reflects 22 [In the Sankhya system, " cog- that this must be for the flight of an nition " means two quite distinct arrow ; individuality says, it is aimed things, viz. the apprehension of ob- at me ; and intellect determines that jects, which is transitory and belongs 128 PATANJALI the soul that all these operations are performed : yet the soul was free at first, and remains unchanged at the end. The whole phenomena of mind and matter have therefore been without a purpose. In each view, the soul is entirely superfluous ; and we are tempted to surmise that its existence and liberation have been admitted, in terms, by Capila, as the gods were by Epicurus, to avoid shocking the prejudices of his countrymen by a direct denial of their religion. The tenets hitherto explained are common to both schools ; but Capila, admitting, as has been seen, the separate existence of souls, and allowing that intellect is employed in the evolu- tion of matter, which answers to creation, denies that there is any Supreme Being, either material or spiritual, by whose volition the universe was produced.23 Patanjali, on the other hand, asserts that, distinct from other souls, there is a soul or spirit unaffected by the ills with which the others are beset ; unconcerned with good or bad deeds or their consequences, and with fancies or passing thoughts : omniscient, infinite, unlimited by time. This being is God, the Supreme Ruler.24 The practice of the two sects takes its colour from these peculiar opinions. The object of all knowledge with both is liberation from matter ; and it is by contemplation that the great work is to be accomplished. To this the theistical sects add devotion ; and the subjects of their meditation are suggested by this sentiment. While the followers of the other sect are occupied in abstruse reason- ings on the nature of mind and matter, the deistical Sankhya spends his time in devotional exercises, or gives himself up to mental abstraction. The mystical and fanatical spirit thus engendered appears in other shapes, and has influenced this branch of the Sankhya in a manner which has ultimately tended to degrade its character. The work of Patanjali, which is the text-book of the theis- tical sect, contains full directions for bodily and mental exer- cises, consisting of intensely profound meditation on certain topics, accompanied by suppression of the breath, and restraint of the senses, while steadily maintaining prescribed positions. By such exercises, the adept acquires the knowledge of every- thing past and future, hidden or remote : he divines the thoughts of others, gains the strength of an elephant, the to intellect, etc., and the eternal ^ Transactions of the Royal Asiatic cognition, which belongs to the soul, Society, vol. i. p. 37. and has no relation to any objects. 24 Ibid. See Rational Refutation, p. 54. — ED.] II. 5 VEDANTA 129 courage of a lion, and the swiftness of the wind ; flies in the air, floats in water ; dives into the earth ; contemplates all worlds at a glance, and indulges in the enjoyment of a power that scarcely knows any bounds. To the attainment of these miraculous faculties, some ascetics divert the efforts which ought to be confined to the acquisition of beatitude ; and others have had recourse to imposture for the power to surprise their admirers with wonders which they possessed no other means of exhibiting. The first description of these aspirants to supernatural powers is still found among the monastic orders, and the second among the lowest classes of the same body ; both are called Yogi, — a name assigned to the original sect, from a word meaning " abstracted meditation." 25 Veddnta, or Uttara Mimdnsd School The foundation of this school is ascribed to Vvasa, the V supposed compiler of the Vedas, who lived about 1400 B.C. ; and it does not seem improbable that the author of that com- pilation, whoever he was, should have written a treatise on the scope and essential doctrines of the compositions which he had brought together : but Mr. Colebrooke is of opinion that, in its present form, the school is more modern than any of the other five, and even than the Jains and Bauddhas ; and that the work in which its system is first explained could not, therefore, have been written earlier 26 than the sixth century before Christ. Though the system of this school is supported by arguments drawn from reason, it professes to be founded on the authority of the Vedas, and appeals for proofs to texts from those scriptures. It has given rise to an enormous mass of treatises, with commentaries, and commentaries on commentaries, almost all written during the last nine centuries. From a selection of these expositions, Mr. Colebrooke has formed his account of the school ; but owing to the controversial matter introduced, as well as to the appeals to texts instead of to human reason, it is more confused and obscure than the system of the other schools. 25 The above account of the Sank- and a very valuable commentary by hya school is chiefly taken from Mr. Professor Wilson. A more general Colebrooke, Transactions of the Royal view of the Sankhya doctrines has Asiatic Society, vol. i. pp. 19-43. A also appeared in the Oxford Lectures translation of the text-book of the of the last author, pp. 49, 54. I have followers of Capila (the atheistic endeavoured to profit by those publi- sect), originally prepared by Mr. cations in correcting my first account. Colebrooke, has appeared since it was 26 Mr. Colebrooke, Transactions of first written, accompanied by a trans- the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. ii. pp. lation of a gloss from the Sanscrit, 3, 4. >N 130 THE SOUL AND ITS TRANSMIGRATION Its principal doctrines are, that " God is the omniscient and omnipotent cause of the existence, continuance, and disso- lution of the universe. Creation is an act of his will ; he is both the efficient and the material cause of the world." At the consummation of all things, all are resolved into him. He is the " sole existent " and the " universal soul." 27 Individual souls are portions of his substance : from him they issue like sparks from a flame, and to him they return. The soul (as a portion of the Divinity) is " infinite, immortal, intelligent, sentient, true." It is capable of activity, though its natural state is repose. It is made to act by the Supreme Being, but in conformity to its previous resolutions ; and those again have been pro- duced by a chain of causes extending backward apparently to infinity.28 The soul is encased in the body as in a sheath, or rather a succession of sheaths. In the first, the intellect is asso- ciated with the five senses ; in the second, the mind is added ; in the third, the organs of sense and the vital faculties. These three constitute the subtile body, which accompanies the soul through all its transmigrations. The fourth sheath is the gross body.29 The states of the soul in reference to the body are these :— When awake, it is active, and has to do with a real and practical creation : in dreams, there is an illusive and unreal creation : in profound sleep, it is enfolded, but not blended, in the Divine essence : on death, it has quitted the corporeal frame.30 It then goes to the moon, is clothed in an aqueous body, falls in rain, is absorbed by some vegetable, and thence through nourishment into an animal embryo.31 After finishing its transmigrations, the number of which depends on its deeds, it receives liberation. Liberation is of three sorts : one incorporeal and complete, when the soul is absorbed in Brahma ; another . imperfect, when it only reaches the abode of Brahma ; and a third far short of the others, by which, while yet in life, it acquires many of the powers of the Divinity, and its faculties are transcendent for enjoyment, but not for action. These last are attainable by sacrifice and devout meditation in pre- scribed modes. The discussions of this school extend to the questions of free will, divine grace, efficacy of works, of faith, and many others of the most abstracted nature. Faith is not mentioned in their early works, and is a tenet 27 Transactions of the Royal Asiatic 28 Ibid. p. 22. » Ibid. p. 35. Society, vol. ii. p. 34. ™ Ibid. p. 37. 31 Ibid. p. 25. It. 5 GOD AND THE MATERIAL WORLD 131 of the branch of the Vedanta school which follows the Bha- gavad Gita. The most regular of the school, however, main- tain the doctrine of divine grace, and restrict free will, as has been shown, by an infinite succession of influencing motives, extending back through the various worlds in the past eternity of the universe. It is obvious that this school differs entirely from that first mentioned, in denying the eternity of matter, and as- cribing the existence of the universe to the energy and volition of God. But its original teachers, or their European interpreters, appear to disagree as to the manner in which that existence is produced. One party maintains that God created matter out of his own essence, and will resume it into his essence at the consummation of all things ; and that from matter thus produced, he formed the world, and left it to make its own impressions on the soul of man. The other party says that God did not create matter, nor does matter exist ; but that he did, and continually does, produce directly on the soul a series of impressions such as the other party supposes to be produced by the material world. One party says that all that exists arises from God ; the other, that nothing does exist except God. This last appears to be the prevailing doctrine among the modern Vedantis, though probably not of the founders and early followers of the school.32 Both parties agree in supposing the impression produced on the mind to be regular and systematic, so that the ideal sect reasons about cause and effect exactly in the same manner as those who believe in the reality of the apparent world. Both allow volition to God, and do not conceive that there is anything in the nature of matter, or in his own relations, to fetter his will. Both agree in asserting that the soul was originally part of God, and is again to return to him ; but neither explains how the separation is effected ; the idealists, in particular, fail entirely in explaining how God can delude a part of himself into a belief of its own separate existence, and of its being acted on by an external world, when, in fact, it is an integral part of the only existing being.33 '2 [The modern school of the Ve- in a rope For a thorough examina- daiita is that founded by Sankara tion of this system, see Rational Acharya. It rigidly maintains ad- Refutation, section iii.— ED.] waita, i.e. that nothing really exists 33 Qn the question regarding the except Brahma ; all else— matter, ideal or material existence of the souls, even Iswara or the personal world (besides Mr. Colebrooke's paper Divine Being — is the product of ig- in the Transactions of the Royal Asi- norance, and as unreal as the snake at ic Society, vol. ii. pp. 38, 39), see that which the mistaken traveller fancies of Colonel Kennedy, in vol. iii. p. 414, 132 LOGICAL SCHOOLS Logical Schools Logic is a favourite study of the Bramins, and an infinity of volumes have been produced by them on this subject. Some of them have been by eminent authors, and various schools have sprung up in consequence ; all, however, are supposed to originate in those of Gotama and Canada. The first of these has attended to the metaphysics of logic ; the second, to physics, or to sensible objects. Though these schools differ in some particulars, they generally agree on the points treated on by both, and may be considered as parts of one system, each supplying the other's deficiencies. The school thus formed has been compared to that of Aristotle.34 It resembles it in its attention to classification, method, and arrangement, and it furnishes a rude form of the syllo- gism, consisting of five propositions, two of which are obviously superfluous.35 In the logic of Canada's school there is also an enumeration of what is translated " predicaments " (paddrtha), which are six : — substance, quality, action, community, particularity, and aggregation or intimate relation : 36 some add a seventh, privation. The first three are among the predicaments of with the remarks of Sir Graves Haughton. 34 Mr. Colebrooke, Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 19 ; Edinburgh Review for July, 1834, p. 363. 35 As, 1. The hill is fiery (the pro- position) ; 2. For it smokes (the rea- son) ; 3. What smokes is fiery, as a culinary hearth (the example) ; 4. Accordingly, the hill is smoking (the applica- tion) ; 5. Therefore, it is fiery (the conclusion). The Hindus had also the regular syllogism, which seems a very natural step from the above ; but as it was at a later period, the improvement might have been borrowed from the Greeks. [Dr. Ballantyne has pointed out that this is the rhetorical, as opposed to the strictly logical, syllogism, or as the Hindus express it, it is the inference for the sake of another, not for one's self. See Prof. Max Miiller's Appendix on Indian logic, subjoined to the Laws of Thought, by the Archbishop of York. But the usual form of a Hindu syllo- gism is rather composed of two propo- sitions, " The mountain has fire- pervaded smoke, therefore it has fire." It is this notion of vydpti or pervasion which forms the peculiarity of the Hindu syllogism ; and though of course it amounts to the same thing as our Western distribution and universality, it expresses it in an original way. In truth, the true interest of the Nyaya lies not in its result, but rather in the fact that it is the only logical system in the world not derived from Aristotle. — ED.] 36 [Community is our genus or species, and is considered to be eter- nal ; particularity (visesha, whence the name of the system) is the eternal individual essence of ether, time, space, soul, and mind (which last is considered as atomic) and of the several atoms of earth, water, fire, and air. Intimate relation (or sama- vdya) is the relation which exists between a whole and its parts, — a genus or species and its individuals, — an action or quality and its subject, — and particularity and the eternal substances mentioned above. — ED«] TI. 5 THE SCHOOL OF GOTAMA 133 m Aristotle, the others are not, and seven of Aristotle's are omitted.37 The subjects treated of in the two Hindu systems are naturally often the same as those of Aristotle, — the senses, the elements, the soul and its different faculties, time, space, etc. ; but many that are of the first importance in Aristotle's system are omitted by the Hindus and vice versa. The defini- tions of the subjects often differ, and the general arrangement is entirely dissimilar. One of the most remarkable coincidences is that all the Hindu schools constantly join to the five senses a sixth in- ternal sense (which they call mind), which connects the other five, and answers exactly to the common, or internal, sense of Aristotle. The arrangement of Gotama's school is much more com- plete and comprehensive than that of Canada, and some specimens of it may serve to give an idea of the minuteness to which their classification is attempted to be carried. The first distribution of subjects is into sixteen heads or topics.38 I can discover no principle on which it is made, except that it comprises the instruments, modes, and some of the subjects, of disputation. It is as follows :— 1. Proof. 2. That which is to be known and proven. 3. Doubt. 4. Motive. 5. Instance. 6. Demonstrated truth. 7. Member of a regular argument or syllogism. 8. Reasoning by reduction to absurdity. 9. Determination or ascertain- ment. 10. Thesis or disquisition. 11. Controversy. 12. Ob- jection. 13. Fallacious reason. 14. Perversion. 15. Futility. 16. Confutation. The subdivisions are more natural and systematic. Proof (or evidence) is of four kinds : perception, inference, comparison,* and affirmation (or testimony). Inference is again subdivided into antecedent, which dis- covers an effect from its cause ; consequent, which deduces a cause from its effect ; and analogous.39 Objects of proof are twelve in number : — 1. Soul. 2. Body. 3. The organs of sensation. 4. The objects of sense. 5. In- tellect. 6. Mind. 7. Activity. 8. Fault. 9. Transmigra- tion. 10. Fruit of deeds. 11. Pain, or physical evil. 12. Liberation. 37 Viz. passion, relation, quantity, * [I.e. where a man recognises a when, where, situation, and habit. bos gavaeus from hearing that it is 8 [These are the sixteen paddrthas like a cow. — ED.] or categories of the Nyaya, as opposed 39 [This is where the general is in- to the seven of the Vai^eshika ; these f erred from the special, as e.g. it is latter, however, are generally ac- substance because it is earth ; or cepted by most modern Naiyayika where the subject is inferred from its writers. — ED.] qualities. — ED.] 134 SOUL, BODY, AND SENSE 1. The first object of proof is soul ; and a full exposition is given of its nature and faculties, and of the proofs of its existence. It has fourteen qualities : — number, quantity, severalty, conjunction, disjunction, intellect, pain, pleasure, desire, aversion, volition, merit, demerit, and the faculty of imagination. 2. The second object of proof is body ; which is still more fully discussed and analyzed ; not without some mixture of what belongs more properly to physical science. 3. Next follows the organs of sense, which are said not to spring from consciousness, as is advanced by the Sankhya school ; but which are conjoined with the sixth internal sense, as in that school ; while the five organs of action (which make up the eleven brought together by the Sankhya) are not sepa- rately recognised here. 4. The next of the subdivisions of the second head consists of the objects of sense, among which are the terms which form the predicaments of Canada. The first of these is substance, and is divided into nine sorts : earth, water, light, air, ether, time, place, soul, mind. The qualities of each of these substances are fully examined ; after which the author passes on to the second predicament, quality. There are twenty-four qualities.* Sixteen are quali- ties of body ; namely, — colour, savour, odour, feel, number, quantity, individuality, conjunction, disjunction, priority, posteriority, gravity, fluidity, viscidity, and sound : and eight of soul ; namely, — pain, desire, aversion, volition, virtue, vice, and faculty. Every one of these is examined at great length ; and, sometimes, as well discussed as by the Grecian schools.40 The remaining five predicaments are then defined, which completes the objects of sense. Each of the six remaining * (It will be observed that in the [or faculty ?] Sir George Bird- above category of twenty-four quali- wood. ) ties, only fifteen of body and seven 40 Levity, for instance, is merely of soul are enumerated, the omissions noticed as the absence of gravity ; being of understanding and pleasure while in Aristotle it is held to be respectively. The twenty-four quali- a separate principle, having a tend- ties, as enumerated in the vaiseshika ency to rise as gravity has to descend, division in its later recension of the Sound is said to be propagated by nyaya philosophy [not Logic] of undulation, wave after wave proceed- Gotama [Satananda] are colour, ing from a centre. [The eight quali- savour, odour, feeling, number, di- ties peculiar to soul are intelligence, mension or quantity, severality or pleasure, pain, desire, aversion, voli- individuality, conjunction, disjunc- tion, virtue, and vice. Faculty com- tion, priority, posteriority, gravidity, prises velocity, elasticity, and mental fluidity, viscidity, sound, understand- impression, i.e. it is the self -reproduc- ing; —Pleasure, pain, desire, aversion, tive power. It and sowe of the fif- volition or effort, merit or virtue, teen qualites of material substances demerit or vice, and self -restitution are found also in soul. — ED.] II. 5 THE ATOMIC SCHOOL 135 objects of proof is the.: examined in the same manner, which exhausts the second head or topic. The third head or topic, doubt, is then taken in hand, and so on to the end of the sixteenth ; but enough has already been said to show the method of proceeding, and much detail would be required to afford any information beyond that. The discussion of the above topics involves many opinions, both 011 physical and metaphysical subjects ; thus the im- materiality, independent existence, and eternity of the soul are asserted : God is considered as the supreme soul, the seat of eternal knowledge, the maker of all things, etc. The school of Canada, or, as it is also called, the atomic school, supposes a transient world composed of aggregations of eternal atoms. It does not seem settled whether their temporary arrangement depends on their natural affinities, or on the creative power of God.41 It is impossible not to be struck with the identity of the topics discussed by the Hindu philosophers with those which engaged the attention of the same class in ancient Greece, and with the similarity between the doctrines of schools sub- sisting in regions of the earth so remote from each other. The first cause, the relation of mind to matter, creation, fate, and many similar subjects, are mixed by the Hindus with questions that have arisen in modern metaphysics, without having been known to the ancients. Their various doctrines of the eternity of matter, or its emanation from the Divinity ; of the separate existence of the Supreme Being, or his arising from the arrangements of nature ; the supposed derivation of all souls from God, and return to him ; the doctrine of atoms ; the successive revolutions of worlds ; have all likewise been maintained by one or other of the Grecian schools.42 These doctrines may, however, have occurred independently to speculative men in unconnected countries ; and each single coincidence may perhaps have been accidental ; but when we find a whole system so similar to that of the Hindus as the Pythagorean, — while the doctrines of both are so unlike the natural suggestions of human reason, — it requires no faith the traditions of the eastern journeys of Pythagoras to be persuaded that the two schools have originated in a common source. 41 Colebrooke, Transactions of the of atoms arises from adrishta, i.e. the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 105. merit or demerit of the souls which For a full account of the logical school are to receive pleasure or pain from see Transactions of the Royal Asiatic the resulting product of their union. Society, vol. i. p. 92 ; and Gladwin's —ED.] Ayeen Acbery, vol. ii. p. 385 ; also 42 See Ward on the Hindoos, vol. ii. Ward on the Hindoos, vol. ii. p. 224. p. 114. [The usual opinion is that the contact 136 SIMILARITIES TO PYTHAGOREAN DOCTRINES The end of all philosophy, according to Pythagoras, is to free the mind from encumbrances which hinder its progress towards perfection ; 43 to raise it above the dominion of the passions, and the influence of corporeal impressions, so as to assimilate it to the Divinity, and qualify it to join the gods.44 The soul is a portion of the Divinity,45 and returns after various transmigrations and successive intermediate states of purga- tion in the region of the dead, to the eternal source from which it first proceeded. The mind (Ov/no^) is distinct from the soul (p?7z;).46 God is the universal soul diffused through all things, the first principle of the universe ; invisible, incor- ruptible, only to be comprehended by the mind.47 Inter- mediate between God and mankind are a host of aerial beings, formed into classes, and exercising different influences on the affairs of the world.48 These are precisely the metaphysical doctrines of India ; and when to them we join the aversion of Pythagoras for animal food, and his prohibition of it unless when offered in sacrifices,49 his injunctions to his disciples not to kill or hurt plants,50 the long probation of his disciples, and their mys- terious initiation, it is difficult to conceive that so remarkable an agreement can be produced by anything short of direct imitation. Further coincidences might be mentioned, equally striking, though less important than those already adduced : such are the affinity between God and light, the arbitrary importance assigned to the sphere of the moon as the limit of earthly changes, etc. : and all derive additional importance from their dissimilarity to the opinions of all the Grecian schools that subsisted in the time of Pythagoras.51 Some of the tenets of both schools are said to have existed among the ancient Egyptians, and may be supposed to have been derived from that source both by Pythagoras and the 3 Enfield's History of Philosophy, Researches, vol. viii. p. 400, and note vol. i. p. 382. Ram Mohun Roy's translation of the Ibid. p. 389. Vedas, p. 114; Colebrooke, Transac- 5 Ibid. p. 393. tions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 5 Ibid. p. 397. ii. p. 26, and other places. For Ibid, p. 393. Pythagoras, see Enfield, vol. i. p. 394, 3 Ibid. p. 395. See also Stanley's and Stanley, p. 547 ; in both of which History of Philosophy. places he is said to have learned his 9 Enfield, vol. i. p. 377, and Stan- doctrine from the magi or oriental ley's School of Philosophy, p. 520. philosophers. The opinions of both Stanley, p. 520. the Hindus and Pythagoras about 1 See, for the Hindu notions on the moon and aerial regions are light, the various interpretations of, stated by Mr. Colebrooke, in the and comments on, the Gayatri, es- Transactions of the Royal Asiatic pecially Sir W. Jones's Works, vol. vi. Society, vol. i. p. 578 ; for those of pp. 417, 421 ; Colebrooke's Asiatic Pythagoras, see Stanley, p. 551. II. 5 HINDtFS THE TEACHERS 137 Bramins. But our accounts of these doctrines in Egypt are only found in books written long after they had reached Greece through other channels. The only early authority is Hero- dotus, who lived after the philosophy of Pythagoras had been universally diffused. If, however, these doctrines existed among the Egyptians, they were scattered opinions in the midst of an independent system ; and in Greece they are obviously adscititious, and not received in their integrity by any other of the philosophers except by the Pythagoreans. In India, on the contrary, they are the main principles on which the religion of the people is founded, to which all the schools of philosophy refer, and on which every theory in pyhsics and every maxim in morality depends. It is well argued by Mr. Colebrooke, that the Indian philosophy resembles that of the earlier rather than of the later Greeks ; and that if the Hindus had been capable of learning the first doctrines from a foreign nation, there was no reason why they should not in like manner have acquired a knowledge of the subsequent improvements. From which he infers that " the Hindus were, in this instance, the teachers and not the learners." 52 52 Transactions of the Royal Asiatic together with the practice of burying Society, vol. i. p. 579. It may, per- the dead instead of burning them, haps, be observed that the doctrines seem to refer to the rules of the of Pythagoras appear to belong to a monastic orders ; while the strictness period later than Menu. The forma- regarding animal food has also a re - tion of a society living in common, semblance to the tendency of later and receiving common initiation, times. BOOK III STATE OF THE HINDUS IN LATER TIMES, CONTINUED FEW of the subjects which follow are noticed by Menu ; we can, therefore, no longer attempt to mark the changes effected since his time, but must endeavour from other sources to trace the rise and describe the present state of each branch of inquiry as it occurs. CHAPTER I ASTRONOMY AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCE Antiquity of the Hindu astronomy — Its extent — Geometry — Arithmetic — Algebra — Originality of Hindu science. THE antiquity and the originality of the Indian astronomy form subjects of considerable interest.1 The first point has been discussed by some of the greatest astronomers in Europe, and is still unsettled. Cassini, Bailly, and Playfair maintain that observations taken upwards of 3;000 years before Christ are still extant, and prove a considerable degree of progress already made at that period. Several men, eminent for science (among whom are La Place and De Lambre), deny the authenticity of the obser- vations, and, consequently, the validity of the conclusion. The argument is conducted entirely on astronomical principles, and can only be decided by astronomers : as far as it can be understood by a person entirely unacquainted with mathematical science, it does not appear to authorize an award, to the extent that is claimed, in favour of the Hindus. All astronomers, however, admit the great antiquity of the Hindu observations ; and it seems indisputable, that the exactness of the mean motions that they have assigned to the sun and moon could only have been attained by a comparison 1 Much information on these sub- British India, a work of great ability jects, but generally with views un- and value. [The best works on favourable to the Hindus, is given in Hindu mathematics and astronomy the illustrations, by different hands, are Colebrooke's Algebra and Bur- annexed to Mr. Hugh Murray's His- gess's translation of the Surya torical and Descriptive Account of Siddhdnta. — ED.] 138 III. 1 VERY EARLY HINDI) OBSERVATIONS of modern observations with others made in remote antiquity.8 Even Mr. Bentley, the most strenuous opponent of the claims of the Hindus, pronounces in his latest work, that their division of the ecliptic into twenty-seven lunar mansions (which sup- poses much previous observation) was made 1,442 years before our era ; and, without relying upon his authority in this in- stance, we should be inclined to believe that the Indian obser- vations could not have commenced at a later period than the fifteenth century before Christ. This would be from one to two centuries before the Argonautic expedition and the first mention of astronomy in Greece. The astronomical rule relating to the calendar, which has been quoted from the Vedas,3 is shown to have been drawn up in the fourteenth century before Christ : and Parasara, the first writer on astronomy of whose writings any portion remains, appears to have flourished about the same time.4 In our inquiries into the astronomy of the Indians, we derive no aid from their own early authors. The same system of priestcraft, which has exercised so pernicious an influence on the Hindus in other respects, has cast a veil over their science. Astronomy having been made subservient to the extravagant chronology of the religionists, all the epochs which it ought to determine have been thrown into confusion and uncertainty ; no general view of their system has been given ; only such parts of science as are required for practical pur- poses are made known ; and even of them the original sources are carefully concealed, and the results communicated as revelations from the Divinity.5 2 See Pond's La Place System of the (Colebrooke, Asiatic Researches, vol. World, vol. ii. p. 252. ix. p. 356. See also Asiatic Resear- 3 In Appendix I. See also Asiatic ches, vol. v. p. 288, for the opinion of Researches, vol. viii. p. 489 ; vol. vii. Mr. Davis.) Mr. Bentley, however, p. 282. at one time suspected the whole of 4 This appears by his observation the works of Parasara to be modern of the place of the Colures, first men- forgeries (Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. tioned by Mr. Davis. (Asiatic Re- p. 581) ; and when he admitted them searches, vol. ii. p. 268.) Sir W. afterwards (in his posthumous work), Jones, in consequence of some further he put a different interpretation on information received from Mr. Davis, the account of the rising of Canopus, fixed Parasara in the twelfth century and placed him, on that and other before Christ (1181 B.C.); but Mr. grounds, in the year 576 before Christ. Davis himself afterwards explained (Abstract of Bentley's History, Orien- (Asiatic Researches, vol. v. p. 288) tal Magazine, vol. v. p. 245.) The that, from the most minute considera- attempt made by Sir W. Jones to fix tion he could give the subject, the other dates, by means of the mytho- observation must have been made logical histories into which the name 1391 years before the Christian era. of Parasara is introduced, does not Another passage quoted from Para- appear successful. (Asiatic Resear- sara shows that the heliacal rising of ches, vol. ii. p. 399.) Canopus took place in his time at a fi Thus the Surya Siddhdnta, the period which agrees with the date learned work of an astronomer of the assigned to him on other grounds. fifth or sixth century, is only known 140 SCIENCE RETARDED BY PRIESTCRAFT From this cause, the data from which their tables were computed are never quoted ; and there is no record of a regular series of observations among them. If this system be an obstruction to our inquiries, it must have been much more so to the progress of science. The art of making observations was probably taught to few ; still fewer would be disposed to employ an instrument which could not confirm, but might impair, the faith due to divine truths. They had none of the skill which would have been taught, nor of the emulation which would have been excited, by the labours of their predecessors ; and when the increasing errors of the revealed tables forced them at length on observations and corrections, so far from expecting applause for their im- provements, they were obliged, by the state of public opinion, to endeavour to make it appear that no alteration had been made.6 In spite of these disadvantages, they appear to have made considerable advances in astronomy. As they have left no complete system which can be presented in a popular form, and compared with those of other nations, they must be judged of by mathematicians from the skill they have shown in treating the points on which they have touched. The opinions formed to the Hindus as a revelation from heaven, received upwards of 2, 164,900 years ago. Their enigmatical manner of communicating their knowledge is as remarkable in the other sciences as in astronomy. Professor Playfair speaks thus of their trigonometry : — " It has the appearance, like many other things in the science of those eastern nations, of being drawn up by one who was more deeply versed in the subject than may be at first imagined, and who knew more than he thought it necessary to communi- cate. It is probably a compendium formed by some ancient adept in geometry for the use of others who were mere practical calculators." Of their arithmetic the Edinburgh Review says (vol. xxix. p. 147) : — " All this is done in verse. The question is usu- ally propounded with enigmatical conciseness ; the rule for the compu- tation is given in terms somewhat less obscure ; but it is not till the example, which comes in the third place, has been studied, that all ambiguity is removed. No demon- stration nor reasoning, either ana- lytical or synthetical, is subjoined ; but, on examination, the rules are found not only to be exact, but to be nearly as simple as they can be made, even in the present state of analytical investigation." The same observa- tion is applied to their algebra. Ibid, p. 151. 6 The commentator on the Surya Siddhdnta (Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 239) shows strongly the embar- rassment that was felt by those who tried to correct errors sanctioned by religious authority. In the same essay (p. 257) it appears that al- though the rational system had been established from time immemorial, it was still thought almost impious to oppose it to the mythological one. A single writer, indeed, avows that the earth is self-balanced in infinite space, and cannot be supported by a succes- sion of animals ; but the others dis- play no such controversial spirit, and seem only anxious to show that their own rational opinions were consistent with the previously established fa- bles. In the Edinburgh Review (vol. x. p. 459) there is a forcible illustra- tion of the effect of the system of religious fraud in retarding the pro- gress of science ; and from this is deduced a well-founded argument, for the early period at which the first discoveries must have been made. III. 1 SKIlL IN GEOMETRY AND ARITHMETIC 141 on this subj^t/ appear to be divided ; but it seems to be generally adr. it-ted that great marks of imperfection are com- bined in tht-r astronomical writings, with proofs of very extraordinary proficiency. The progi'ss m&de in other branches of mathematical knowledge 7™s st,i\\ more remarkable than in astronomy. In the " £irva Siddhanta," written, according to Mr. Bentley, irA.D. 1091, at the latest, but generally assigned to the fifth or sixth century,7 is contained a system of trigonometry, which not only goes far beyond anything known to the Greeks, but involves theorems which were not discovered in Europe till the sixteenth century.8 Their geometrical skill is shown, among other forms, by their demonstrations of various properties of triangles, espe- cially one which expresses the area in the terms of the three sides, and was unknown in Europe till published by Clavius (in the sixteenth century) ; 9 and by their knowledge of the proportion of the radius to the circumference of a circle, which they express in a mode peculiar to themselves, by applying one measure and one unit to the radius and circumference. This proportion, which is confirmed by the most approved labours of Europeans, was not known out of India, until modern times.10 The Hindus are distinguished in arithmetic by the acknow- ledged invention of the decimal notation ; and it seems to be the possession of this discovery which has given them so great an advantage over the Greeks in the science of numbers.11 7 See Mr. Colebrooke (Asiatic Re- infancy of science. We may there- searches, vol. ix. p. 329, note) for the fore conclude that geometry must position of the vernal equinox when have been known in India long before the Surya Siddhdnta was written, and the writing of the Surya Siddhdnta" Sir W. Jones (Asiatic Researches, vol. There is also a rule for the computa- ii. p. 392) for the period when the tion of the sines, involving a refine- vernal equinox was so situated. Mr. ment first practised by Briggs, in the Colebrooke thinks it contemporary beginning of the seventeenth century, with Brahma Gupta, whom he after- (British India, vol. iii. p. 403, in the wards fixes about the end of the sixth " Edinburgh Cabinet Library.") century. 9 Edinburgh Review, vol. xxix. p. 8 Such is that of Vieta, pointed out 158. by Professor PI ay fair, in his question 10 The ratio of the diameter to the sent to the Asiatic Society (Asiatic circumference is given in the Surya Researches, vol. iv. p. 152). Professor Siddhdnta, probably written in the Playfair has published a memoir on fifth century (Asiatic Researches, vol. the Hindu trigonometry (Transac- ii. p. 259), and even by Mr. Bentley's tions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, account, in the eleventh. The de- vol. iv.), which is referred to by Pro- monstrations alluded to in the pre- fessor Wallace, with the following ceding lines are generally by Brahma importan ^observation of his own : — Gupta in the sixth century. " However ancient, therefore, any n A writer in the Edinburgh Re- book may be in which we meet with view (vol. xviii. p. 211), who discusses a" system of trigonometry, we may be the subject in a tone of great hostility assured it was not written in the to the Hindu pretensions, makes an 142 ALGEBRA But it is in algebra that the Bramins appear to have most excelled their contemporaries. Our accounts of their dis- coveries in that science are obtained from the works of Brahma Gupta (who lived in the sixth century), and Bhassara Acharya (in the twelfth century),12 but both drew their naterials from Arya Bhata, in whose time the science seems toh^ve been at its height ; and who, though not clearly traced fuirhpr back than the fifth century, may, in Mr. Colebrooke's opinion, not improbably have lived nearly as early as Diophantus, the first Greek writer on algebra ; that is, about A.D. 360. 13 But, whichever may- have been the more ancient, there is no question of the superiority of the Hindus over their rivals in the perfection to which they brought the science. Not only is Arya Bhata superior to Diophantus (as is shown by his knowledge of the resolution of equations involving several unknown quantities, and in a general method of resolving all indeterminate problems of at least the first degree),14 but he and his successors press hard upon the discoveries of alge- braists who lived almost in our own time. Nor is Arya Bhata the inventor of algebra among the Hindus ; for there seems every reason to believe that the science was in his time in such a state, as it required the lapse of ages, and many repeated efforts of invention to produce.15 Tt was in his time, indeed, or in the fifth century, at latest, that Indian science appears to have attained its highest perfection.16 observation which appears entitled to much consideration. He lays down the position, that decimal nota- tion is not a very old invention, and points out the improbability of its having escaped Pythagoras, if it had in his time been known in India. 12 Mr. Bentley, in his last work, wishes to prove, by his usual mode of computation, that Bhascara wrote in the reign of Akber (A.D. 1556) ; but the date in the text is mentioned in a Persian translation of one of his works presented to that very emperor by the celebrated Feizi, whose in- quiries into Hindu science form the most conspicuous part of the litera- ture of that age. (See Book IX. Ch. iii. ) Bhascara is likewise quoted by many authors anterior to Akber, whose authenticity Mr. Bentley is therefore obliged to deny. 13 [The date of Aryabhata's birth has been fixed as A.D. 476 by Dr. Bhau Daji (Journ. R. A. S., new series, vol. i. p. 405), from a passage in one of his works. In the same paper Brahma Gupta is proved to have been born in A.D. 598, and Bhas- kara Acharya in A.D. 1114 ; the date of the death of Varaha Mihira is also fixed as A.D. 587. — ED.] 14 Edinburgh Review, vol. xxix. p. 142. « Ibid. p. 143. 16 In the Edinburgh Review (vol. xxi. p. 372) is a striking history of a problem (to find x so that a x 2 + b shall be a square number). The first step towards a solution is made by Diophantus ; it is extended by Fer- mat, and sent as a defiance to the English algebraists in the seventeenth century ; but was only carried to its full extent by Euler ; who arrives exactly at the point before attained by Bhascara in A.D. 1150. Another occurs in the same Review (vol. xxix. p. 153), where it is stated, from Mr. Colebrooke, that a particular solution given by Bhascara (A.D. 1150) is exactly the same that was hit on by Lord Brounker, in 1657 ; and that the general solution of the same pro- blem was unsuccessfully attempted by Euler, and only accomplished by III. 1 THE QUESTION OF ORIGINALITY 143 Of the originality of Hindu science some opinions must have been formed from what has been already said. In their astronomy, the absence of a general theory, the unequal re- finement of the different portions of science which have been presented to us, the want of demonstrations and of recorded observations, the rudeness of the instruments used by the Bramins ; and their inaccuracy in observing, .together with the suspension of all progress at a certain point, are very strong arguments in favour of their having derived their knowledge from a foreign source. But on the other hand, in the first part of their progress, all other nations were in still greater ignorance than they ; and in the more advanced stages, where they were more likely to have borrowed, not only is their mode of proceeding peculiar to themselves, but it is often founded on principles with which no other ancient people were acquainted ; and shows a knowledge of discoveries not made, even in Europe, till within the course of the last two centuries. As far as their astronomical conclusions depend on those discoveries, it is self-evident that they cannot have been borrowed ; and even where there is no such dependence, it cannot fairly be presumed that persons who had such resources within themselves must necessarily have relied on the aid of other nations. It seems probable that, if the Hindus borrowed at all, it was after their owrn astronomy had made considerable progress ; and from the want of exact resemblance between the parts of their system and that of other nations, where they approach the nearest, it would rather seem as if they had taken up hints of improvement than implicitly copied the* doctrines of their instructors. j.-v That they did borrow in this manner from the Greeks of Alexandria does not appear improbable ; and the reason can- not be better stated than in the words of Mr. Colebrooke, De la Grange, A.D. 1767 ; although virtually the same as that explained it had been as completely given by by Euler. (Edinburgh Review, vol. Brahma Gupta in the sixth century xxix. p. 151.) Their application of of our era. But the superiority of algebra to astronomical investiga- the Hindus over the Greek algebraists tions and geometrical demonstrations is scarcely so conspicuous in their is also an invention of their own ; and discoveries as in the excellence of their manner of conducting it is, even their method, which is altogether now, entitled to admiration. (Cole- dissimilar to that of Diophantus brooke, quoted by Professor Wallace, (Strachey's Bija Ganita, quoted in the ubi supra, pp. 408, 409; and Edin- Edinburgh Review, vol. xxi. pp. 374, burgh Review, vol. xxix. p. 158.) [The 375), and in the perfection of their cuttaca is " a quantity such that a algorithm, or notation. (Colebrooke, given number being multiplied by it, Indian Algebra, quoted in the Edin- and the product added to, or sub- burgh Review, vol. xxix. p. 162.) tracted from, a given quantity, the One of their most favourite processes sum or difference will be divisible by (that called cuttaca) was not known a given divisor without remainder." in Europe till published by Bachet de —ED.] Mezeriac, about the year 1624, and is 144 RELATION TO WESTERN SCIENCE who has discussed the question with his usual learning, judg- ment, and impartiality. After showing that the Hindu writers of the fifth century speak with respect of the astronomy of the Yavanas (by whom there is every reason to think that, in this instance, they mean the Greeks), and that a treatise of one of their own authors is called " Romaka Siddhanta," very possibly in allusion to the system of the western (or Roman) astronomers, he goes on to say, ' If these circum- stances, joined to a resemblance, hardly to be supposed casual, which the Hindu astronomy, with its apparatus of eccentrics and epicycles, bears in many respects to that of the Greeks, be thought to authorize a belief that the Hindus received from the Greeks that knowledge which enabled them to correct and improve their own imperfect astronomy, I shall not feel inclined to dissent from the opinion. There does appear ground for more than a conjecture that the Hindus had ob- tained a knowledge of Grecian astronomy before the Arabs began to cultivate the science." In another place 17 Mr. Colebrooke intimates his opinion that it is not improbable that the Hindus may have taken the hint of their solar zodiac from the Greeks,18 but adapted it to their own ancient division of the ecliptic into twenty- seven parts.19 Their astrology, he thinks, is almost entirely borrowed from the West.20 From what has been already said, it seems very improbable that the Indian geometry and arithmetic have been borrowed from the Greeks, and there is no other nation which can contest 17 Asiatic Researches, vol. ix. p. 347. seven nakshatras has been lately dis- 18 [The names and figures of the puted, and several writers have en- twelve zodiacal signs were only deavoured to prove that they were gradually invented by the Greeks. borrowed from the Chinese or Chal- Cleostratus (in the sixth century, deans. — ED.] B.C.) added the ram and the archer, 20 In addition to the points already and the balance was introduced in the mentioned, in which the Hindus have time of the Ptolemies (see Letronne, gone beyond the other ancient na- Journ. des Savans, 1839). The oldest tions, Mr. Colebrooke mentions two mention of these signs in Sanskrit is in astronomy : one is in their notions the passage from Baudhayana's regarding the precession of the equi- Siitras, quoted by Colebrooke, Essays, noxes, in which they were more cor- vol. i. p. 202. Dr. Bhau Daji (Jour. rect than Ptolemy, and as much so as R.A.S., new series, vol. i. p. 409) the Arabs, who did not attain to their quotes a couplet from Varahamihira degree of improvement till a later (who died A.D. 587), giving all the period ; the other relates to the Greek names in a corrupted form. diurnal revolution of the earth on its Besides these we find many other axis, which the Bramins discuss in Greek astronomical terms in his the fifth century, and which, although works, as heli for fjXios, jydmitra for formerly suggested in ancient times diameter, hord, kendra, lipta (as a by Heraclitus, had been long laid minute of a degree), etc. See also aside by the Greeks, and was never Dr. Kern's Preface to his ed. of the revived in Europe until the days of Brihat Sanhitd. — ED.] Copernicus. 19 [The Hindu origin of the twenty- III. 2 GEOGRAPHY 145 the priority in those sciences. The peculiarity of their method gives every appearance of originality to their discoveries in algebra also. In this last science the claims of the Arabs have been set up ag^'nst them : but Mr. Colebrooke has fully established that algebra had attained the highest perfection it ever reached in India before it was known to the Arabians, and indeed before the first dawn of the culture of the sciences among that people.21 Whatever the Arabs possessed in common with the Hindus, there are good grounds for thinking that they received from t!,v3 latter nation ; and however great their subsequent attain- ments and discoveries, it is to be remembered that they did not begin till the eighth century, when they first gained access to the treasures of the Greeks. On these subjects, however, as on all connected with the 'earning of the Bramins, the decisions of the most learned can only be considered as opinions on the facts at present before us ; and they must all be regarded as open to question until our increased acquaintance with Sanscrit literature shall qualify us to pronounce a final judgment. The history of science, after all, is chiefly interesting from the means it affords of judging of the character of the nation possessed of it ; and in this view we find the Bramins as remarkable as ever for diligence and acuteness, but with the same want of manliness and precision as in other departments, and the same disposition to debase everything by a mixture of fable, and by sacrifice of the truth to the supposed interests of the sacerdotal order. CHAPTER II GEOGRAPHY THE Hindus have made less progress in this than in any other science. According to their system, Mount Meru occupies the centre of the world.1 It is a lofty mountain of a conical shape, the sides composed of precious stones, and the top forming a sort 21 Colebrooke's Algebra, Arithmetic, house by appointment from Pisa ; his etc. [The first Arabian mathema- book is dated A.D. 1202. — ED.] tician translated a Hindu book in the l Some consider Mount Meru as the reign of the Khalif Almansur, A.D. North Pole : however this may be, it 773. Leonardo of Pisa first intro- is, in all the geographical systems of duced algebra into Europe ; he the Hindus, the point to which every - learned it at Bugia, in Barbary, where thing refers, his father was a scribe in the custom- 146 ANCIENT GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS of terrestrial paradise. It may have been suggested by the lofty mountains to the north of India, but seems no part of that chain, or of any other that exists out of the fancy of the mythologists. It is surrounded by seven concentric belts or circles of land, divided by seven seas. The innermost of those circles is called Jambudwip, which includes India, and is surrounded by a sea of salt water.2 The other six belts are separated from each other by seas of milk, wine, sugar-cane, juice, etc., and appear to be entirely fabulous. The name of Jambudwip is sometimes confined to India, which at other times is called Bharata.3 That country, and some of those nearest to it, appear to be the only part of the earth at all known to the Hindus. Within India, their ancient books furnish geographical divisions, with lists of the towns, mountains, and rivers in each ; so that, though indistinct and destitute of arrangement, many modern divisions, cities, and natural features can be recognised. But all beyond India is plunged in a darkness from which the boldest speculations of modern geographers have failed to rescue it.4 It is remarkable that scarcely one Sanscrit name of a place beyond the Indus coincides with those of Alexander's historians, though many on the Indian side do. It would seem, therefore, as if the Hindus had, in early times, been as averse to travelling as most of them are still ; and that they would have remained for ever unconnected with the rest of the world if all man- kind had been as exempt from restlessness and curiosity as themselves. 2 Col. Wilford, Asiatic Researches, has been attempted may be judged vol. viii.. pp. 291, 298, etc. of by an examination of Col. Wilford's 3 [Bharata varsha, or " Bharata's Essay on the Sacred Isles of the West, varsha or continent," is the usual especially the first part (Asiatic Re- Hiiidu name ; Hindustan is a Persian searches, vol. viii. p. 267); while the word, and was introduced by the superiority of the materials for a Mohammedans. The latter name is similar inquiry within India is shown an interesting relic of Vaidik times. by the same author's Essay on Oan- The " land of the seven rivers " getic Hindustan (Asiatic Researches, (sapta-sindhavas), which is mentioned vol. xiv. p. 373), as well as by an essay in the Rig Veda, reappears as the in the Oriental Magazine, vol. ii. See Hapta-Hendu of the Zend. The also the first four chapters of the Greeks obtained their Ivdoi and Ivdta second book of the Vishnu Purana, from the Persians (the word first p. 161. [It is not impossible, how- occurs in ^Cschylus) ; and from them ever, that the Swetadwipa of the the name became known to the Ho- Mahabh. (xii. § 340), where Narada mans. Similarly the Jews in Baby- finds a nation of ekdntinah, or wor- lon learned the Hoddii (for Hondu) shippers of the Supreme, may refer of Esther i. 1. — ED.] to some intercourse with Alexandria 4 The ill success with which this — ED.] III. 2 IGNORANCE OF FOREIGN LANDS 147 The existence of Indian nations in two places beyond the Indus furnishes no argument against this observation. Those near the sea coast were probably driven by political convulsions from their own country, and settled on the nearest spot they could find. (See Appendix III.) Of those in the northern mountains we cannot guess the history ; but although both seem, in Alexander's time, to have lost their connection with India, and to have differed in many respects from the natives of that country, yet they do not appear to have formed any sort of acquaintance with other nations, or to have been met with beyond their own limits. At present (besides religious mendicants who occasionally wander to Baku, the sacred fire on the Caspian, who sometimes go to Astrachan, and have been known to reach Moscow), in- dividuals of a Hindu tribe from Shikarpur, a city near the Indus, settle as merchants and bankers in the towns of Persia, Turkistan, and the southern dominions of Russia ; but none of these are given to general inquiry, or ever bring back any information to their countrymen. Few even of the neighbouring nations are mentioned in their early books. They knew the Greeks, and applied to them the name of Yavan,5 which they afterwards extended to all other conquerors from the north-west ; and there is good reason to think that they knew the Scythians under the name of Sacas.6 But it was within India that they became acquainted with both those nations, and they were totally ignorant of the regions from which their visitors had come. The most distinct indication that I have observed of an acquaintance with the Romans is in a writer of the seventh or eighth century, quoted by Mr. Colebrooke,7 who states that the Barbaric tongues are called Parasica, Yavana, Raumaca, and Barbara, the first three of which would appear to mean Persian, Greek, and Latin. The western country, called Romaka, where it is said to be midnight when it is sunrise at Lanka, may perhaps be Rome 5 [Yavana appears to be the Greek is an example quoted in the Kasika Ionian, which occurs in Homer as Comm. to Panini's grammar, Ya- I dopes, and is no doubt connected vandh say ana. bhunjate, " the Yavanas with the Hebrew Ydvdn. In later eat lying down," which seems to times it denotes the Mohammedans, allude to Greek customs. To these and especially the Arabs ; but in proofs we must also add the frequent earlier books it was certainly, though mention of the Yavanas as skilled not perhaps exclusively, applied to in astronomy, and the use of Greek the Greeks. Beside the Antiyako words as astronomical terms. — ED.] Yona Rujd of Asoka's inscriptions, we 6 Supposed to be the same with the have the Yavanas mentioned as Sacae of the ancient Persians, as settled beyond the Indus, in a play reported by the Greeks, (the Malavikagnimitra) commonly 7 Transactions of the Royal Asiatic attributed to Kalidasa ; and there Society, vol. i. p. 453. H8 CHRONOLOGY also. It is mentioned in what is stated to be a translation from the :' Siddhanta Siromani," 8 and must, in that case, have been known to the Bramins before they had much com- munication with the Mahometans. China they certainly knew. We possess the travels of a native of that country in India in the fourth century ; and the king of Magadha is attested, by Chinese authors, to have sent embassies to China in the second and subsequent centuries. There is a people called China mentioned in Menu, but they are placed among the tribes on the north-west of India ; and, moreover, the name of Chin was not adopted in the country to which it belongs till long after Menu's age.9 Unless we put faith in the very learned and ingenious deductions of Colonel Wilford, it will be difficult to find, in the essays on geographical subjects which have been drawn from Sanscrit sources, any signs of an acquaintance with Egypt ; although the trade carried on for centuries by Greek and Roman navigators from that country might have been expected to have brought it into notice. CHAPTER III CHRONOLOGY Mythological periods — Impossibility of fixing early dates — Solar and lunar races — Kings of Magadha — Chandragupta contemporary with Seleucus — And Asoca with Antiochus — Date of Nanda's reign — Date of the death of Buddha — Probable date of the war of the Maha Bharata — Dates after Chandragupta — Coincidence with the Chinese annals — Obscurity after A.D. 436 — Eras of Vicramaditya and Salivahana. THE greater periods employed in the computation of time by the Hindus need scarcely be discussed. Though founded on astronomical data, they are purely mythological, and do not deserve the attention they have attracted from European scholars. A complete revolution of the nodes and apsides, which they suppose to be performed in 4,320,000,000 years, forms 8 Ward's Hindoos, vol. ii. p. 457. 9 [It has been conjectured that the Romaka is also mentioned as meaning name arose from the Tsin dynasty Rome by Col. Wilford (Asiatic Re- which ruled in China B.C. 249-206, but searches, vol. viii. p. 367, and else- this is very doubtful. The Tsin where) ; but it is to be observed that family appear to have reigned for Rome and Italy are to this day quite more than six centuries in the west of unknown in the East. Even in China before they seized the empire, Persia, Rum means Asia Minor ; and and thus the name may have easily the " Csesar of Rome " always meant spread among the neighbouring na- the Byzantine Emperor, until the tions. See Gesenius, Thesaurus, art. title was transferred to the Turkish Sinim. — ED.] Sultan. III. 3 THE FOUR GREAT AGES 149 a calpa or day of Brahma. In this are included fourteen manwantaras, or periods during each of which the world is under the control of one Menu. Each manwantara is composed of seventy-one maha yugas, or great ages, and each maha yuga contains four yugas, or ages, of unequal length. The last bear some resemblance to the golden, silver, brazen, and iron ages of the Greeks. This last division alone has any reference to the affairs of mankind.1 The first, or satya yuga, extends through 1,728,000 years. The second, or treta yuga, through 1,296,000 years. The third, called dwapara yuga, through 864,000 years ; and the last, or cali yuga, through 432,000 years. Of the last or cali yuga of the present manwantara, 4,941 years have elapsed ; and within that period most historical events are acknowledged to have occurred. Some, however, are placed at earlier epochs ; and would be beyond the reach of chro- nology, if they could not be brought within more credible limits.2 We must, therefore, discard the yugas, along with the calpas and manwantaras, and must endeavour to draw the chronology of the Hindus from such other sources as they have themselves presented to us. It has been shown that the Vedas were probably collected about fourteen centuries before Christ ; but no historical events can with any certainty be connected with that date. The astronomer Parasara may perhaps have lived in the fourteenth century before the commencement of our era ; and with him, as with his son Vyasa, the compiler of the Vedas, many historical or mythological persons are connected ; but, in both cases, some of those who are made contemporary with the authors in question appear in periods remote from each other ; and the extravagant duration assigned to the lives of all holy persons prevents the participation of any of them from contributing to settle the date of a transaction. The next ground on which we might hope to establish the Hindu chronology is furnished by lists given in the Puranas of two parallel lines of kings (the races of the sun and moon), 1 Mr. Davis, Asiatic Researches, ches, vol. ii. p. 116.) The " Surya vol. ii. pp. 228-231. Siddhanta " (written in the fifth cen- 2 In fixing the date of the Insti- tury of our era) assumes a more tutes of Menu (which appear, in fact, modern date ; and, being revealed to have been written less than 900 in the first, or satya yuga, only claims years before Christ), the Hindu chrono- an antiquity of from 2,000,000 to logists overflow even the limits of 3,000,000 years. the four ages, and go back nearly Rama, who seems to be n, real his- seven manwantaras — a period ex- torical person, is fixed at the end of ceeding 4,320,000 multiplied by six the second age, noai > 000 000 years times seventy-one. (Asiatic Resear- ago. 150 SOLAR AND LUNAR RACES which are- supposed to have reigned in Ayodhya, and in the tract between the Jumna and Ganges respectively ; and from one or other of which all the royal families of ancient India were descended. These lists, according to the computation of Sir W. Jones, would carry us back to 3,500 years before Christ. But the lists themselves are so contradictory as to pre- vent all confidence in either. The heads of the two are con- temporaries, being brother and sister ; yet the lunar race has but forty-eight names in the same period in which the solar has ninety-five ; and Crishna, whom the Puranas them- selves make long posterior to Rama, is fiftieth in the lunar race, while Rama is sixty-third in the solar.3 The various attempts made to reconcile the lists have only served to increase the discrepancy. The narrative by which they are accompanied in the Puranas discredits them still further by absurdities and puerilities ; and although many of the kings named may have reigned, and some of the tales related may be allusions to real history, yet no part of either, down to the time of Crishna and the war of the Maha Bharata, affords the least basis on which to found a system of chronology. From the time of the Maha Bharata we have numerous lists of kings in different parts of India, which present indi- vidually an appearance of probability, and are in several instances confirmed by extraneous testimony. More frequently they are authenticated or illustrated by religious inscriptions and grants of land. These last, in par- ticular, are sculptured on stone or engraved on copper-plates ; the latter very common and generally in good preservation. They not only record the date with great care and minuteness, but almost always contain the names of some of the prede- cessors of the prince who confers the grant. If sufficient numbers should be found, they may fix the dates of whole series of kings ; but, at present, they are unconnected frag- ments, which are of use in local histories, but give little help to general chronology. The line of Magadha alone, besides receiving striking con- firmations from various quarters, presents a connected chain of kings from the war of the Maha Bharata to the fifth century after Christ, and thus admits of an approximation to the principal epochs within that period. 3 For the most improved copies of Mr. Ward, vol. i. p. 14 ; Dr. Hamilton the lists, see Prinsep's Useful Tables, Buchanan's Hindoo Genealogies (a p. 94, etc. For the previous discus- separate work) ; consult likewise sions, see Sir W. Jones, Asiatic Re- Professor Wilson's Preface to the searches, vol. ii. p. 128 ; Colonel Vishnu Purdna, p. Ixiv, etc., and Wilford, Asiatic Researches, vol. v. the Purdna itself, Book TV. chaps, i. table opposite p. 241, and p. 287 ; and ii. p. 347. III. 3 KINGS OF MAGADHA 151 Sahadeva was king of Magadha at the end of the war of the Maha Bharata. The thirty-fifth king in succession from him was Ajata Satru, in whose reign Sakya or Gotania, the founder of the Buddha religion, flourished. There can be little doubt that Sakya died about 550 before Christ.4 We have, therefore, the testimonies of the Burmese, Ceylonese, Siamese, and some other Bauddha chronicles, written out of India, by which to settle the era of Ajata Satru. The sixth in succession from Ajata Satru, inclusive, was Nanda, on whose date many others depend. The ninth from Nanda was Chandragupta ; and the third from him was Asoca, a prince celebrated among the Bauddhas of all coun- tries, as one of the most zealous disciples and promoters of their religion.5 It is by means of the last two princes that we gain a link to connect the chronology of India with that of Europe ; and are enabled (though still very loosely) to mark the limits of the period embraced by Hindu history. From some motive, probably connected with the desire to magnify Crishna, the Hindu authors have made the end of the war of the Maha Bharata and the death of that hero contemporary with the commencement of the cali yuga, or evil age ; and this assertion, though openly denied by one of their own authors,6 and indirectly contradicted by facts stated in others, is still regarded as incontrovertible. In applying the list of kings drawn from the Puranas to the verification of this epoch, Sir W. Jones was struck with the resemblance between the name of Chandragupta and that of Sandracottus, or Sandracoptus, who is mentioned by European writers as having concluded a treaty with Seleucus. On a close examination, he was surprised to find a great re- semblance in their histories ; and assuming the date of Chan- dragupta to be the same as that of Seleucus, he was enabled to reduce those of preceding events to a form more consistent with our notions.7 The arguments by which this supposition may be supported are fully and fairly stated by Professor 4 See p. 1 19 [or B.C. 477 ? — ED.] as twenty- four years. The Vayu P. 5 [" The Brahman Kautilya will calls his son Bhadrasara and assigns root out the nine Nandas. Upon the twenty-five years to his reign." cessation of the race of Nanda, the Miiller's Anc. Sans. Lit., pp. 297, 298. Mauryas will possess the earth. — ED.] Kautilya will place Chandragupta on 6 An historian of Cashmir. See the throne ; his son will be Vindu- note on the age of Yudhishthir, sara ; his son will be Asokavard- Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. hana." (Vishnu Pur.) " Chandrag- 7 Asiatic Researches, vol. iv. p. upta's reign is given uniformly by xxxii. the Puranas and Buddhist authorities 152 THE DATE OF CHANDRAGUPTA Wilson.8 They are — the resemblance between the names just mentioned, and between that of Xandrames,9 by which Diodorus calls Sandracottus, and that of Chandramas, by which he is sometimes designated in Indian authors ; his low birth, and his usurpation, which are common to the Greek and Hindu stories ; the situation of his kingdom, as described by Megas- thenes, who was ambassador at his court ; the name of his people, Prasii with the Greeks, corresponding to Prachyas, the term applied by Hindu geographers to the tract in which Magadha is situated ; and of his capital, which the Greeks call Palibothra, while the Hindus call that of Chandragupta Pataliputra. Subsequent discoveries, from Braminical sources, fixed the date of Chandragupta with somewhat more precision : Wilford placed him in 350 B.C., and Wilson in 315, and they received an unexpected confirmation from the chronological tables of the Bauddhas, procured from the distant countries of Ava and Ceylon. The first of these (from Crawford's " Ava " 10) places his reign between the years 392 and 376 B.C. ; and the other (in Tumour's ';< Mahawanso " n) between the years 381 and 347 B.C. ; while the Greek accounts lead us to fix it between the accession of Seleucus in 312, and his death in 280 B.C.12 The difference between the Bauddha and Greek dates, amounting to thirty or forty years,13 is ascribed by Mr. Tumour to a wilful fraud on the part of the priests of Buddha, who, though entirely free from the extravagances of Bramin chronology, have been tempted on this occasion to accom- modate their historical dates to one which had been assumed in their religious traditions. The effect of this inconsistency would not be sufficient to prevent our retaining a strong con- viction of the identity of Chandragupta and Sandracottus, even if no further proof had been obtained. All doubt, how- ever, has been removed by a discovery which promises to throw light on other obscure parts of Indian history. Many caves, rocks, and pillars, in different parts of India, are covered with 8 Hindu Theatre, vol. iii. p. 3. 9 [The Greek authors, however, seem to distinguish Sandracottus and Xandrames, and to make the latter a predecessor of the former. Professor Max Miiller conjectures that Xand- rames may be the same as the last Nanda. (Sansk. Lit., p. 279.) Mr. Thomas identifies him with Krananda, whose name is found on some old coins bearing Buddhist emblems ; he considers Krananda to be "the promi- nent representative of the regnant fraternity of the nine Nandas," and that these Nandas were Buddhists. — ED.] 10 See Prinsep's Useful Tables, p. 132. 11 Introduction, p. xlvii. 12 Clinton's Fasti. 13 As the expedition of Seleucus was undertaken immediately after his reduction of Babylon (312 B.C.), we may suppose it to have taken place in 310 B.C. ; and as Chandra- gupta (according to the " Mahawan- so ") died in 347 B.C., there will be a discrepancy to the extent of thirty- seven years, even if the last act of Chandragupta' s life was to sign the treaty. III. 3 MR. PRINSEP'S DISCOVERY 153 inscriptions in a character which neither European nor native had been able to decipher, and which tantalized the spectators like the hieroglyphics of Egypt ; until Mr. Prinsep, who had long made them his study, without being able to find a key to them, happened to notice the brevity and insulated position of all the inscriptions sent from a particular temple ; and seizing on this circumstance, which he combined with a modern practice of the Bauddhas, he inferred that each probably recorded the gift of some votary. At the same time when he made this ingenious conjecture, he was struck with the fact that all the inscriptions ended in the same two letters ; and, following up his theory, he assumed that those letters were D and N, the two radical letters in the Sanscrit name for a donation. The frequent recurrence of another letter sug- gested its representing S, the sign of the genitive in Sanscrit ; and, having now got hold of the clue, he soon completed his alphabet. He found that the language was not pure Sanscrit, but Pali, the dialect in which the sacred writings of the Bauddhas are composed ; and by means of these discoveries he proceeded to read the hitherto illegible inscriptions, and also to make out the names of the kings on one series of the Indian coins. He met with an agreeable confirmation of his theory from a fact observed simultaneously by himself and Professor Lassen of Bonn : that the names of Agathocles and Pantaleon, which appeared in Greek on one side of a medal, were exactly repeated on the reverse in the newly discovered alphabet. He now applied the powerful engine he had gained to the inscription on Firuz Shah's column at Delhi, which has long attracted the curiosity of orientalists, as well as to three other columns in Gangetic India, and found them all give way with- out difficulty. They proved all to contain certain edicts of Asoca : 14 and as he proceeded with other inscriptions, he found two relating to similar mandates of the same monarch. One of these was found by the Rev. Mr. Stevenson, President of the Literary Society of Bombay, engraved on a rock at Girnar, a sacred mountain of the Bauddhas, in the peninsula of Guzerat ; and the other bv Lieutenant Kittoe, on a rock V at Dhauli, in Cattac, on the opposite coast of India.15 One of them contained eleven, and the other fourteen edicts : 14 [" In the inscriptions he is Asoka." (Wilson, Vishnu P., p. always called Piyadasi (Priyadarsin), 470.) Cf. Prinsep's Essays (Thomas' but according to Buddhist authori- ed.), vol. ii. pp. 24-30. — ED.] ties, the Rasawahini and Dipawanso, ir> [Another set of these inscrip- quoted by Tumour (J. A. S. Bengal, tions has since been found at Kapur Dec. 1837, and Nov. 1838), Piyadasi di Giri, in Afghanistan ; see Wilson's or Piyadasano is identified, both papers, J. R. A. S., xii. xvi. — ED.] by name and circumstances, with 154 ROCK INSCRIPTIONS all those of the pillars were included in both, and the two rock inscriptions agreed in ten edicts on the whole. One of those, found on both the rocks, related to the erection of hos- pitals and other charitable foundations, which were to be established as well in Asoca's own provinces, as in others occupied by the faithful (four of whom are named), " even as far as Tarnbapanni (Taprobane or Ceylon) ; and, more- over, within the dominions of Antiochus the Greek [Anti- yako Yona Raja], of which Antiochus's generals are the rulers." A subsequent edict, on one of the rocks, is in a shattered state, and has not been perfectly made out ; but seems to express exultation in the extension of Asoca's doctrines (espe- cially with regard to forbearing to kill animals 16) in foreign countries, as well as in his own. It contains the following fragment : ;' and the Greek king besides, by whom the cJiapta (?) kings Turamayo, Gongakena, and Maga." 17 Two of these names Mr. Prinsep conceives to refer to Ptole- maios and Magas, and regards their occurrence as a proof that Asoca was not without acquaintance and intercourse with Egypt ; a conclusion which may be adopted without hesitation, as the extent of the India trade, under the first Ptolemies, is a well-known fact in history. Mr. Prinsep's opinion, that the Ptolemy referred to was Ptolemy Philadelphus, who had a brother, named Magas, married to a daughter of Antiochus I., appears also to be highly probable ; and would establish that the Antiochus mentioned in the other edict is either the first or second of the name : that is, either the son or grandson of Seleucus.18 The synchronism between the grandson of Chandragupta and one of the early successors of Seleucus leaves no doubt of the contemporary existence of the elder princes ; and fixes 16 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Antiochus II. But it is at least Calcutta, vol. vii. p. 261. equally probable that " the record 17 Journal of the Asiatic Society of aimed at a vague selection of the Calcutta, vol. vii. p. 224. [These more generally known Greek names names have since been determined to complete the list." See Prinsep's more accurately as Turamara (or Essays (edited by Thomas), vol. ii. Turamayo), Antikona, Mako (or pp. 18-30. — ED.] Maga), and Alikasunari — respectively 18 [Antiochus I. Soter, son of Se- identified as Ptolemy, Antigonus, leucus Nicator, reigned B.C. 280-261 ; Magas, and Alexander — the chapta Antiochus II. Theos, 261-246 ; An- of the text is now read chaptdro or tiochus III., or the Great, reigned chaturo, " four." The Antigonus may 223-187. The last invaded India be Antigonus Gonatus of Macedon and formed an alliance with an Indian (B.C. 276-243), and the Alexander king named Sophagasenas (Subha- may be Alexander II. of Epirus gasena ?) ; but his date is too late (B.C. 272-254) ; Magas of Cyrene for Asoka to have been his contem- ruled B.C. 308-258. Thus all these porary. — ED.] princes would be contemporary with III. 3 THE DATE OF NANDA 155 an epoch in Hindu chronology, to which the dates of former events may with confidence be referred. The first date to fix is that of Nanda. Though there were eight kings between him and Chandragupta, it is not known whether they were in lineal or collateral succession, one account making them all brothers ; but four of the Puranas agree in assigning only 100 years to the whole nine, including Nanda. We may therefore suppose Nanda to have come to the throne 100 years before Sandracottus, or 400 years before Christ. The sixth king, counting back from Nanda inclusive, is Ajata Satru, in whose reign Sakya died. The date of that event has been shown, on authorities independent of the Hindus, to be about 550 B.C. ; and as five reigns interposed between that and 400 would only allow thirty years to each, there is no irreconcilable discrepancy between the epochs. Between Nanda and the war of the Maha Bharata, there had been three dynasties ; and the number of years during which each reigned is given in four Puranas. The aggregate is 1,500 years ; but the longest list gives only forty-seven kings ; and the same four Puranas in another place give, with equal confidence, a different number of years. One makes the interval between Nanda and the war of the Maha Bharata, 1,015 years ; two others, 1,050 ; and the fourth, 1,115. Now, the shortest of these periods, divided among forty-seven kings, gives upwards of twenty-one years to a reign : and to make out 1,500 years would require more than thirty-one years to each reign. Such a duration through forty-seven continuous reigns is so unlikely, that we can scarcely hesitate to prefer the medium between the shorter periods, and decide, as far as depends on the evidence of the Puranas, that the war of the Maha Bharata ended 1,050 years before Nanda, or 1,450 before Christ. If we adopt the belief of the Hindus, that the Vedas were compiled in their present form during that contest, we must place the war in the fourteenth century before Christ, upwards of fifty years later than the date given by the Puranas. This alteration is recommended by the circumstance that it would still further reduce the length of the reigns. It would place the war of the Maha Bharata about 200 years before the siege of Troy. But even the longest period (of 1,500 years from Nanda) would still leave ample room since the commencement of the call yuga, or since the flood, to dispose of the few antecedent events in Hindu history. Supposing the flood and the cali yuga to be about the same time (as many opinions justify), there 156 COINCIDENCE WITH CHINESE ANNALS would be considerably more than 1,400 years from that epoch to the war of the Maha Bharata. Two Puranas give the period from Nanda forwards, to the end of the fifth dynasty from him or fourth from Sandra- cottus : the whole period is 836 or 854 years from Nanda, or 436 or 454 A.D. The last of these three dynasties, the Andhras. acceded to power about the beginning of our era ; which agrees with the mention by Pliny, in the second century, of a powerful dynasty of the same name ; and although this might refer to another family of Andhras in the Deckan, yet the name of Andhre Indi, on the Ganges, in the Peutengerian tables, makes it equally probable that it applied to the one in question. The Chinese annals, translated by De Guignes, notice, in A.D. 408, the arrival of ambassadors from the Indian prince Yuegnai, king of Kia-pi-li. Kia-pi-li can be no other than Capila, the birthplace and capital of Buddha, which the Chinese have put for all Magadha. Yue-gnai again bears some resem- blance to Yaj-nasri, or Yajna, the king actually on the throne of the Andhras at the period referred to. The Andhras end in Pulimat, or Pulomarchish, A.D. 436 ; and from thence- forward the chronology of Magadha relapses into a confusion nearly equal to that before the war of the Maha Bharata. An embassy is indeed mentioned in the Chinese annals, as arriving in A.D. 641, from Ho-lo-mien, of the family of Kie-li-tie, a great king in India. M. de Guignes supposes his kingdom to have been Magadha ; but neither the king's name nor that of the dynasty bears the least resemblance to anv in the Puranas.19 ii The Vishnu Parana states (in the prophetic tone which, as a professed work of Vyasa, it is compelled to assume, in speaking of events subsequent to that sage's death) that ;' after these " [Andhras] there will reign — 7 Abhiras, 10 Gardabhas, 16 Sakas, 8 Yavanas, 19 The note in which M. de Guignes offers this opinion is curious, as show- ing, from a Chinese work which he quotes, that Magadha was called Mo-kia-to, and its capital recognised by both its Hindu names Kusuma- piira, for which the Chinese wrote Kia-so-mo-pou-lo, and Pataliputra, out of which they made Po-to-li-tse, by translating Putra, which means a son in Sanscrit, into their own corre- sponding word, tse. The ambassa- dors in A.D. 641 could not, however, have come from Pataliputra, which had not long before been deserted for Rajgriha (or Behar) ; for the capital was at the latter place when visited by the Chinese traveller, in the be- ginning of the fifth century (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. v. p. 132) ; and another Chinese, who wrote in A.D. 640, states that Patali- putra was a mass of ruins when he had seen it on his travels. III. 3 VARIOUS DYNASTIES 157 14 Tusharas, 13 Mundas, and 11 Maunas ; 20 who will be sovereigns of the whole earth for 1,390 years : 11 Pauras follow, who reign for 300 years, and are succeeded by the Kailakila Yavanas, who reign for 106 years. All this would carry us nearly 500 years beyond the present year 1840 ; but, if we assume that the summing up the first dynasties into 1,390 is an error, and that they were in reality contemporaneous, or nearly so, the conclusion we are led to is that after the Andhras a period of confusion ensued, during which different parts of India were possessed by different races, of whom nothing further is known. If the Yavans be Greeks, it would, no doubt, be surprising to find eight of their monarchs reigning after A.D. 436 ; and the Kailakila Yavans would be still more embarrassing. They may possibly be Mussulmans.21 Immediately after all this confusion comes a list of dynasties TO [•" These are not continuous, but nearly contemporary dynasties ; and if they comprise, as they probably do, the Greek and Scythian princes of the West of India, the periods may not be very wide of the truth. . . . Col. Wilford has attempted a verification of these dynasties ; in some instances, perhaps, with success, though cer- tainly not in all. The Abhiras he calls the Shepherd Kings of the North of India ; they were more probably Greeks or Scythians or Parthians along the Lower Indus ; traces of the name occur in the Abiria of Ptolemy, and the Ahirs as a distinct race still exist in Guzerat. The Sakas are the Sacse, and the duration of their reign is not unlikely to be near the truth. The eight Yavana kings may be, as he supposes, Greek princes of Bactria or rather Western India. The Tusharas he makes the Par- thians. If the Bhagavata has the preferable reading, Tushkaras, they were the Tochari, a Scythian race. The Murundas, or, as he has it, Mau- riindas, he considers to be a tribe of Huns, the Morundae of Ptolemy. According to the Matsya Pur, they were of Mlechchha origin, Mlechchha- sambhava. The Vayu calls them Arya-Mlechchhas ; qy. Barbarians of Ariana ? Wilford regards the Maunas as also a tribe of Huns ; and the word is in all the MSS. of the Matsya, Hiinas, traces of whom may be found still in the west and south of India (Inscript. at Merritch ; see Journ. R. As. S., vol. iii. p. 103). The Gardabhas (or, as some Puranas read, Gardabhins) Wilford conjec- tures to be descendants of Bahram Gor, king of Persia ; but this is very questionable. That they were a tribe in the West of India may be conjectured, as some strange tales prevail there of a Gandharba, changed to an ass, marrying the daughter of the king of Dhar (As. Researches, vi. 35, ix. 147) ; fables suggested no doubt by Gardabha signifying an ass. There is also evidently some affinity between these Gardabhins and the old Gadhia Pysa, or ass-money, as vulgarly termed, found in various parts of Western India, and which is unquestionably of ancient date. (Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, Dec. 1835, p. 688.) It may be the coinage of the Gardabha princes : Gardabha being the original of Gadha, meaning also an ass." (Wilson's Vishnu P., p. 476, note.) Wilson elsewhere (Journ. R.A.S., iii. 385) had illus- trated these coins from the Toycart, the earliest Hindu drama, where a rare word, gaddahi (Prakrit for gard- abhi, a she-ass) is explained by the commentators as a coin. — ED.] 21 Professor Wilson, Vishnu Pur- ana, p. 481. Dr. Mill's translation from the Allahabad column, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Cal cutta, vol. iii. p. 257 ; and other papers in that journal, quoted by Professor Wilson. 158 MEDICINE reigning in different kingdoms ; and among them is a brief notice of " the Guptas of Magadha, along the Ganges, to Prayaga." Now, it has been put out of all dispute, by coins and inscriptions, that a race, some of whose names ended in Gupta, did actually reign along the Ganges from the fourth or fifth to the seventh or eighth century." There is, therefore, some truth mixed with these crudities, but it cannot be made available without external aid ; and as nearly the same account is given in the other historical Puranas, we have nothing left but to give up all further attempts at the chronology of Magadha. The era of Vicramaditya in Malwa, which begins fifty-seven years before Christ, and is in constant use till this day all over Hindostan ; and that of Salivahana, whose era, com- mencing A.D. 78, is equally current in the Deckan, might be expected to afford fixed points of reference for all events after their commencement ; and they are of the greatest use' in fixing the dates of grants of land which are so important a part of our materials for history. But the fictitious era of the Puranas prevents their being employed in those col- lections, and there are no other chronicles in which they might be made use of. On the whole we must admit the insufficiency of the Hindu chronology, and confess that, with the few exceptions specified, we must be content with guesses, until the arrival of the Mussulmans at length put us in possession of a regular succession of events, with their dates. CHAPTER IV MEDICINE THE earliest medical writers extant are Charaka and Susruta. We do not know the date of either of them ; but there is a commentary on the second and later of the two, which was written in Cashmir in the twelfth or thirteenth century, and does not seem to have been the first.1 These authors were translated into Arabic, and probably soon after that nation turned its attention to literature. The Arab writers openly acknowledge their obligations to the medical writers of India, and place their knowledge on a level 22 [The date of the Gupta kings is medica, by Dr. Royle, Professor of still an unsettled problem ; see Prin- King's College, London. The addi- sep's Essays (Thomas's ed.), vol. i. tions are from Ward's Hindoos (vol. pp. 270-276— ED.]. ii. p. 337, etc.), and Mr. Coats, Trans- 1 Most of the information in this actions of the Literary Society of chapter is taken from an essay on the Bombay, vol. iii. p. 232. antiquity of the Indian materia III. 4 EARLY SURGICAL SKILL 159 with that of the Greeks. It helps to fix the date of their becoming known to the Arabs, to find that two Hindus, named Manka and Saleh, were physicians to Harun al Rashid in the eighth century.2 Their acquaintance with medicine seems to have been very extensive. We are not surprised at their knowledge of simples, in which they gave early lessons to Europe, and more recently taught us the benefit of smoking datura in asthma, and the use of cowitch against^worms : their chemical skill is a fact more striking and more^unexpected . They knew how to prepare sulphuric acid, nitric acid, and muriatic acid ; the oxide of copper, iron, lead (of which they had both the red oxide and litharge), tin and zinc ; the sulphuret of iron, copper, mercury, antimony, and arsenic ; the sulphate of copper, zinc, and iron ; and carbonates of lead and iron. Their modes of preparing those substances seein, in some instances, if not in all, to have been peculiar to themselves.3 The use of these medicines seems to have been very bold. They were the first nation who employed minerals internally, and they not only gave mercury in that manner, but arsenic and arsenious acid, which were remedies in intermittents. They have long used cinnabar for fumigations, by which they produce a speedy and safe salivation. Their surgery is as remarkable as their medicine, especially when we recollect their ignorance of anatomy. They cut for the stone, couched for the cataract, and extracted the foetus from the womb, and in their early works enumerate no less than 127 sorts of surgical instruments.4 But their instru- ments were probably always rude. At present they are so much so, that, though very successful in cataract, their opera- tions for the stone are often fatal. They have long practised inoculation ; but still many lives were lost from smallpox, until the introduction of vaccination. The Hindu physicians are attentive to the pulse and to the state of the skin, of the tongue, eyes, etc., and to the nature of the evacuations ; and they are said to form correct prog- nostics from the observation of the symptoms. But their practice is all empirical, their theory only tending to mislead them. Nor are they always judicious in their treatment : in fevers, for instance, they shut up the patient in a room artificially heated, and deprive him not only of food but drink. 2 Professor Dietz, quoted by Dr. making calomel and corrosive sub- Royle, p. 64. limate. 3 See Dr. Royle, p. 44, who par- 4 Dr. Royle, p. 49. ticularly refers to the processes for 160 LANGUAGE They call in astrology and magic to the aid of their medi- cine, applying their remedies at appropriate situations of the planets, and often accompanying them with mystical verses and charms. Many of these defects probably belonged to the art in its best days, but the science has no doubt declined ; chemists can conduct their preparations successfully without having the least knowledge of the principles by which the desired changes are effected ; physicians follow the practice of their instructors without inquiry ; and surgery is so far neglected, that bleeding is left to the barber, bone-setting to the herds- man, and every man is ready to administer a blister, which is done with the juice of the euphorbium, and still oftener with the actual cautery. CHAPTER V LANGUAGE Sanscrit — Other languages of India. THE Sanscrit language has been pronounced by one whose extensive acquaintance with those of other ancient and modern nations entitles his opinion to respect, to be "of a wonderful structure ; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either." l The language so highly commended seems always to have received the attention it deserved. Panini, the earliest extant writer on its grammar, is so ancient as to be mixed up with the fabulous ages. His works and those of his successors have established a system of grammar the most complete that ever was employed in arranging the elements of human speech. I should not, if I were able, enter on its details in this place ; but some explanation of them is accessible to the English reader in an essay of Mr. Colebrooke.2 Besides innumerable grammars and dictionaries, there are, in Sanscrit, treatises on rhetoric and composition, pro- 1 Sir W. Jones, Asiatic Researches, harsh combinations in particular vol. i. p. 422. words, but so as to preserve a similar 2 Asiatic Researches, vol. vii. p. 199. harmony throughout the whole length Among many marks of high polish, is of each of their almost interminable one which must have particularly compounds, and even to contribute promoted the melody of its versiftca- to the music of whole periods, which tion. This consists in what Mr. Cole- are generally subjected to those modi- brooke calls its " euphonical ortho- fications, for the sake of euphony, graphy " (Sandhi), by which letters which in other languages are confined are changed, not only so as to avoid to single words. III. 5 SANSCRIT AND WESTERN TONGUES 161 portioned in number to the extent of Hindu literature in every branch.3 Sanscrit is still carefully cultivated ; and, though it has long been a dead language, the learned are able even now to converse in it, probably with as much ease as those in Europe found in Latin before the general diffusion of the knowledge of modern tongues. It would be curious to ascer- tain when it ceased to be the language of the people, and how far it ever was so in its highly polished form. Sanscrit has of late become an object of more interest to us from the discovery of its close connection (amounting in some cases to identity) with Greek and Latin. This fact has long been known to Sanscrit scholars, who pointed it out in reference to single words ; but it has now been demonstrated by means of a comparison of the inflexions, conducted by German writers, and particularly by Mr. Bopp.4 It is observed by Mr. Colebrooke. that the language, metre, and style of a particular hymn in one of the Vedas furnish internal evidence ' that the compilation of those poems in the present arrangement took place after the Sanscrit tongue had advanced from the rustic and irregular dialect in which the multitude of hymns and prayers of the Veda was com- posed, to the polished and sonorous language in which the mythological poems, sacred and profane, have been written." From the Vedas to Menu, and from Menu to the Pur anas, Sir W. Jones conceives the change to be exactly in the same proportion as from the fragments of Numa to those of the twelve tables, and from those to the works of Cicero. The Indian names introduced by the historians of Alexander are often resolvable into Sanscrit in its present form. No allusion is made by those authors to a sacred language, dis- tinct from that of the people ; but, in the earliest Hindu dramas, women and uneducated persons are introduced, speaking a less polished dialect, while Sanscrit is reserved for the higher characters. Some conjectures regarding the history of Sanscrit may be suggested by the degree in which it is combined with the modern languages of India. The five northern languages — those of the Pan jab, Canouj,5 3 Colebrooke, Asiatic Researches, 4 See a very succinct account of his vol. vii. p. 205, etc. [The rhetoric comparison in the Edinburgh Review, of the Hindus, in its analysis of the vol. xxxiii. p. 431 ; and a more co- phenomena of taste and style, is pious one in the Annals of Oriental inferior to that of no other nation ; Literature. but it is interesting to observe the 5 [More often called Hindi. Be- influence of national freedom in de- sides this, Mr. Colebrooke mentions vel oping the full sense of the Greek the Brij Bhakha, a dialect very nearly prjTopiKi], as contrasted with the allied to Hindi, and much used in Hindu alankara. — ED.] Hindi poetry, as well as still spoken M 162 OTHER LANGUAGES OF INDIA Mithila (or North Behar), Bengal, and Guzerat — are, as we may infer from Mr. Colebrooke, branches of the Sanscrit, altered by the mixture of local and foreign words and new inflexions, much as Italian is from Latin ; 6 but of the five languages of the Deckan,7 three at least — Tamil, Telugu, and Carnata — have an origin totally distinct from the Sanscrit, and receive words from that tongue in the same manner that Latin has been ingrafted on English, or Arabic on Hindi. Of these three, Tamil is so much the most pure, that it is some- times thought to be the source of the other two. Telugu, though it preserves its own structure, is much mixed with Sanscrit words.8 Of the remaining two, the language of Orissa (or the Uriya), though probably of the Tamil family, is so much in- debted to Sanscrit as to lead Mr. Wilson to say that " if the Sanscrit vocables were excluded, it could not pretend to be a language." It is, indeed, often counted (instead of Guzerati) among the five languages of the north. Maharashtra, or Maratta, is considered by Mr. Wilson to belong to the northern family, though always counted among those of the south. The people must therefore be a branch of those beyond the Vindhya mountains, but no guess can be made at the period of their immigration.9 in parts of the Doab. In fact, it yalam, the language of Malabar would be very easy to increase the (which is closely connected with number in the text, if we took into Tamil), are called the Dravidian account the different local dialects in branch. However they may borrow the various provinces. Dr. Caldwell, Sanskrit words in their vocabulary, in his Dravidian Comparative Gram- they are essentially non-Sanskrit in mar (p. 27), would make nine North- their grammatical structure, and ern languages, i.e. Bengali, Uriya, belong to the Scythian, not the Indo- Hindi with its daughter Hindustani, European, family. The dialects of Panjabi, Sindhi, Guzerati, Marathi, most of the various mountain tribes and the languages of Nepal and Cash- in South and Central India, as the mir. — ED.] Gonds, Khonds, etc., belong to the 6 Asiatic Researches, vol. vii. p. 219. same stock, and perhaps some of See also Wilson, Preface to the Mac- those in North India ; and thus the kenzie Collection, p. li. [There is an Dravidian tribes appear to represent interesting question which has not yet the aboriginal inhabitants of India been settled, as to the origin of the previous to the immigration of the non-Sanskrit element which is found Sanskrit-speaking Aryans. See Dr. in all these northern languages. It Caldwell's Dravidian Comparative is very probable that this is a relic of Grammar. ED.] the aboriginal languages.— ED.] 9 The remarks on the southern .For the tracts where these Ian- languages are taken, with a very few guages are respectively spoken, see exceptions, from Mr. Wilson's Preface aroi; ' n-— ED-] to the Mackenzie Papers, and from LIhese three, Tamil, Telugu, and the writings of Mr. Ellis and Mr. Bab- Canarese, with the addition of Mala- ington quoted in that dissertation. III. 6 THE DRAMA OF THE HINDUS 163 LITERATURE Poetry Drama — Sacred poetry — Heroic poems: the " Ramayana " — The "Maha Bharata " — Descriptive — Pastoral — Satire — Tales and fables. A PERSON unacquainted with Sanscrit scarcely possesses the means of forming an opinion on the poetry of the Hindus. The singular attention to harmony which characterises the Sanscrit must give it a charm that is lost in translation ; and the unbounded facility of forming compounds, which adds so much to the richness of the original, unavoidably occasions stiff and unnatural combinations in a language of a different genius. Even the originality of Hindu poetry diminishes our enjoy- ment of it, by depriving it of all aid from our poetical associa- tions. The peculiarity of the ideas and recollections of the people renders it difficult for us to enter into their spirit : while the difference of all natural appearances and productions deprives their imagery of half its beauty, and makes that a source of obscurity to us, which to a native of the East would give an additional vividness to every expression. What ideas can we derive from being told that a maiden's lips are a band- hujiva flower, and that the lustre of the madhuca beams on her cheeks ? or, in other circumstances, that her cheek is like the champa leaf ? Yet those figures may be as expressive, to those who understand the allusions, as our own comparisons of a youthful beauty to an opening rose, or one that pines for love to a neglected primrose. With all these disadvantages, the few specimens of Sanscrit poetry to which we have access present considerable beauties. Their drama, in particular, which is the department with which we are best acquainted, rises to a high pitch of ex- cellence. Sacontala has long been known to Europeans by the classical version of Sir W. Jones, and our acquaintance with the principal of the remaining dramas has now become familiar through the admirable translations of Mr. Wilson. Though we possess plays written at least as early as the beginning of the Christian era, and one which was composed in Bengal within these fifty years, yet the whole number extant does not exceed sixty. This is probably owing to the manner in which they were at first produced, being only acted once on some particular festival in the great hall or inner court of a palace,1 and consequently losing all the popularity 1 Wilson's Preface to the Theatre of the Hindoos. 164 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLAYS which plays in our times derive from repeated representations in different cities and in public theatres. Many must also have been lost, owing to the neglect of the learned ; 2 for the taste for this species of poetry seems corrupted, if not extinct, among the Bramins ; and although some of the least deserving specimens are still favourites, yet Professor Wilson assures us that he has met with but one Bramin who could be considered as conversant with the dramatic literature of his country.3 Of these dramas we possess translations of eight, and ab- stracts mixed with specimens of twenty-four more. Though there are no tragedies among the number, none at least that terminate unhappily, yet these plays exhibit a variety not surpassed on any other stage. Besides the different classes of dramas, farces, moralities, and short pieces such as we should call interludes, the diversity arising from the subjects seems to have been almost unlimited. A play trans- lated by Dr. Taylor of Bombay is a lively, and sometimes humorous, illustration of the tenets of the different schools of philosophy.4 Of the more regular dramas, some relate to the actions of heroes ; some, to the wars and loves of kings ; others to the intrigues of ministers ; and others are strictly confined to the incidents of private life. The characters are as different as the subjects. In some there is not a trace of supernatural agency or an allusion to religion. In others, nymphs of paradise are attached to earthly lovers ; gods and demons appear in others ; enchantments, unconnected with religion, influence the fate of some ; and in one, almost the whole Hindu Pantheon is brought on the stage to attest the innocence of the heroine. In general, however, even in the cases where the gods afford their assistance, the interest of the drama turns entirely on human feelings and natural situations, over which the superior beings have no direct influence. The number of acts is not fixed, and extends in practice from one to ten. The division seems to be made when the stage becomes vacant, or when an interval is required between two parts of the action. 2 [That the Hindu drama is only plays must have been composed, partially represented by the surviving before a critic could have written so specimens is proved by the fact that copiously on the theory. — ED.] one of the earliest of these plays (the 3 Appendix to the Theatre of the Vikramorvasi of Kalidasa) refers to Hindoos, vol. iii. p. 97. the sage Bharata as having analysed 4 This will suggest The Clouds of the dramatic art. The long-lost Aristophanes, but it is more like Poetics of this Hindu Aristotle, in some of the moralities of the Middle thirty-four chapters, have been re- Ages. cently discovered by Dr. Hall. Many III. 6 ACTORS AND AUTHORS 165 In general, unity of time is not much violated (though in one case twelve years passes between the first and second acts) ; unity of place is less attended to ; but the more important point of unity of action is as well preserved as in most modern performances. The plots are generally interesting ; the dialogue lively, though somewhat prolonged ; and considerable skill is some- times shown in preparing the reader to enter fully into the feelings of the persons in the situations in which they are about to be placed. Some judgment of the actors may be formed from the specimens still seen. Regular dramas are very rarely per- formed ; when they are, the tone is grave and declamatory. The dresses are such as we see represented on ancient sculp- tures ; and the high caps, or rather crowns, of the superior characters, composed of dark azure and gold, of the form peculiar to Indian sculpture, give an air of much greater dignity than the modern turban. Mimics, buffoons, and actors of a sort of partly extemporary farces, are common still. They are coarse, childish, and, when not previously warned, grossly indecent ; but they exhibit considerable powers of acting and much comic humour. The best dramatic authors are Calidasa, who probably lived in the fifth century, and Bhavabhuti, who flourished in the eighth. Each of these poets wrote three dramatic works, two of which, in each instance, have been translated. The first excels in tenderness and delicacy, and is full of highly poetical description. The beauties of his pastoral drama of " Sacontala " have long been deservedly admired. The " Hero and the Nymph," in Mr. Wilson's collection, is in a still more romantic strain, and may be compared (in the wild- ness of its design at least) to the " Tempest " and " Mid- summer Night's Dream." 5 The other great dramatist pos- sesses all the same qualities in an equal degree, accompanied with a sublimity of description, a manly tone, and a high and even martial spirit that is without example in any other rlindu poet that I have heard of. 5 Mr. Mill's judgment on " Sacon- ship which exists between the three r/ala " is not, in general, favourable ; youthful maidens is tender and de- but one passage is so just, and so well lightful ; and the scene which takes expressed, that I cannot refrain from place when Sacontala is about to quoting it. " The poem, indeed, has leave the peaceful hermitage where some beautiful passages. The court- she had happily spent her youth, her ship between Sacontala and Dush- expressions of tenderness to her manta (that is the name of the king) friends, her affectionate parting with is delicate and interesting ; and the the domestic animals she had tended, workings of the passion on two ami- and even with the flowers and trees able minds are naturally and vividly in which she had delighted, breathe portrayed. The picture of the friend- more than pastoral sweetness." 166 POWERS OF DESCRIPTION It may, indeed, be asserted of all the compositions of the Hindus, that they participate in the moral defects of the nation, and possess a character of voluptuous calm more adapted to the contemplation of the beauties of nature, than to the exertion of energy, or to the enjoyment of adventure. Hence, their ordinary poetry, though flowing and elegant, and displaying a profusion of the richest imagery, is often deficient in the spirit which ought to prevent the reader being cloyed with sweetness, and seldom moves any strong feeling, or awakens any lofty sentiment. The emotions in which they are most successful are those of love and tenderness. They powerfully present the raptures of mutual affection, the languishment of absence, and the ravings of disappointed passion. They can even rise to the nobler feelings of devoted attachment, and generous disregard of selfish motives ; but we look in vain for traits of vigour, of pride, or independence : even in their numerous battles they seem to feel little real sympathy with the combatants, and are obliged to make up by hyperbolical description for the want of that ardent spirit which a Greek or Roman poet could easily transfer into the bosom of his hero, while it glowed with all its fervour in his own.6 The great strength of the Sanscrit poets, as well as their great delight, is in description.7 Their most frequent subjects are scenes of repose and meditation, amidst sequestered woods and flowery banks, fanned by fragrant gales and cooled by limpid waters ; but they are not unsuccessful in cheerful and animated landscape. Such is the description of the country round Ujein in the ninth act of " Malati and Madhava " ; where mountains, rocks, woods, villages, and glittering rivulets combine to form an extensive and a varied prospect. The city occupies the centre of the view ; its towers, temples, pinnacles, and gates are reflected on the clear stream beneath ; while the groves on the banks refreshed with early rain, and the meadows brightening with the recent shower, afford a luxuriant resting-place to the heavy-uddered kine. Some- times, also, they raise their efforts to the frowning mountain 6 The following speech of a strip- combat " which delighted the north - ling in one of Bhavabhuti's plays, ern warrior : — however, reminds us of the " joys of " Boys. The soldiers raise their bows and point their shafts Against you, and the hermitage is still remote. Fly! etc. " Lava. Let the shafts fall. Oh ! this is glorious ! " 7- [Cf. Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. ii. the ancient, as compared with that pp. 403—408 (Otte's transl.), where of the modern, world. — ED]. he treats of the descriptive poetry of III. 6 PERSIAN AND SANSCRIT rPOETRY 167 -LA and the gathering tempest. Bhavabhuti, in particular, excels in this higher sort of description. His touches of wild mountain scenery in different places, and his description of the romantic rocks and solemn forests round the source of the Godaveri, are full of grandeur and sublimity. Among his most impressive descriptions is one where his hero repairs at midnight to a field of tombs, scarcely lighted by the flames of funeral pyres, and evokes the demons of the place, whose appearance, filling the air with their shrill cries and unearthly forms, is painted in dark and powerful colours ; while the solitude, the moaning of the winds, the hoarse sound of the brook, the wailing owl, and the long-drawn howl of the jackal, which succeed on the sudden disappearance of the spirits, almost surpass in effect the presence of their supernatural terrors.8 This taste for description is more striking from its contrast with the practice of some of their neighbours. In Persian poets, for instance, a long description of in- animate nature is rarely met with. Their genius is for the expression of deep feelings or of sublime conceptions ; and, in their brief and indistinct attempts at description, they attend exclusively to the sentiment excited by objects in the mind, quite neglecting the impression which they make on the senses. But a Sanscrit poet, without omitting the characteristic emotion, presents all the elements from which it springs, delineates the peculiar features of the scene, and exhibits the whole in so picturesque a manner, that a stranger, even with his ignorance of the names of plants and animals, might easily form a notion of the nature of an Indian landscape. Thus, in a description of a Persian garden, the opening buds smile, the rose spreads forth all her charms to the in- toxicated nightingale ; the breeze brings the recollections of youth, and the spring invites the youths and damsels to his bridal pavilion. But the lover is without enjoyment in this festival of nature. The passing rill recalls the flight of time ; the nightingale seems to lament the inconstancy of the rose, and to remember that the wintry blast will soon scatter her now blooming leaves. He calls on the heavens to join their tears to his, and on the wind to bear his sighs to his obdurate fair. A Hindu poet, on the other hand, represents, perhaps, the deep shade of a grove, where the dark tamala mixes its branches with the pale foliage of the nimba, and the mangoe tree extends its ancient arms among the quivering leaves of 8 "Malati and Madhava," Act V., in Wilson's Theatre of the Hindoos. 168 THE SACRED POEMS the lofty pipala. some creeper twines round the jambu, and flings out its floating tendrils from the topmost bough. The asoca hangs down the long clusters of its glowing flowers, the madhavi exhibits its snow-white petals, and other trees pour showers of blossoms from their loaded branches. The air is filled with fragrance, and is still, but for the hum of bees and the rippling of the passing rill. The note of the coil is from time to time heard at a distance, or the low murmur of the turtle-dove on some neighbouring tree. The lover wanders forth into such a scene, and indulges his melancholy in this congenial seclusion. He is soothed by the south wind, and softened by the languid odour of the mangoe blossoms, till he sinks down overpowered in an arbour of jessamine, and abandons himself to the thoughts of his absent mistress. The figures employed by the two nations partake of this contrast : those of the Persians are conventional hints, which would scarcely convey an idea to a person unaccustomed to them. A beautiful woman's form is a cypress ; her locks are musk (in blackness) ; her eyes a languid narcissus ; and the dimple in her chin a well ; but the Sanscrit similes, in which they deal more than in metaphors, are in general new and appropriate, and are sufficient, without previous know- ledge, to place the points of resemblance in a vivid light. The Sanscrit poets have, no doubt, commonplaces, and some of them as fanciful as those of the Persians,9 but in general the topics seem drawn from the writer's memory and imagina- tion, and not adopted from a common stock which has supplied the wants of a succession of former authors. Having said so much of the Hindu drama, and having anticipated the general character of Sanscrit poetry, I shall be more brief with what remains. The most voluminous as well as the most ancient and im- portant portion of Hindu verse consists of the sacred and the epic or heroic poems. On the sacred poems Mr. Colebrooke has pronounced,10 that their " general style is flat, diffuse, and no less deficient in ornament than abundant in repeti- tions." The specimens which have been translated give no ground for questioning this decision. Of the Vedas, the first part, consisting of hymns, etc., can alone be classed with poetry ; and however sublime their doctrines, it appears that the same praise cannot be extended to their composition. The extracts translated by Mr. Colebrooke, Ram Mohan 9 [Hindu writers on rhetoric give Sahitya Drapana, vii. 590. — lists of these stock epithets for the ED.] instruction of their readers : see 10 Asiatic Researches, vol. x. p. 425. III. 6 TWO GREAT HEROIC POEMS 169 Rai, and Sir W. Jones, and the large specimen in the Oriental Magazine for December, 1825, afford no sign of imagination, and no example of vigour of thought or felicity of diction. The same, with a few exceptions, applies to the prayers and hymns in Colebrooke's " Treatise on the Religious Cere- monies of the Hindus." n Next in succession to the Vedas comes the great heroic poem of the ' Ramayana," which commemorates the conquest of Ceylon.12 The author Valmiki, is said to have been con- temporary with the event ; but not even a poet would invest a living warrior with supernatural powers, or would give him an army of apes for allies. A considerable period must have elapsed before the real circumstances of the story were suffi- ciently forgotten to admit of such bold embellishments. This argument, however, shows the early date of the hero, without impugning the antiquity of the poem. Of that there can be no dispute ; for the language approaches nearer than any other Sanscrit poem to the early form used in the Vedas, and an epitome is introduced into the ' Maha Bharata," itself the work of a remote age. This last poem is ascribed to Vyasa, the author of the Vedas, and an eye-witness of the exploits which it records. But within the poem itself is an acknowledgment that it was put into its present form by Sauti, who received it through another person from Vyasa : 24,000 verses out of 100,000 are alleged, in the same place, to be the work of the original poet.13 Its pretensions to such remote antiquity are dis- proved by the advanced stage of the language ; and the men- tion of Yavanas 14 (if that term be applied to the Greeks) shows that some portion is of later date than the middle of the fourth century before Christ. But there seems no ground to question the opinion of one well qualified to judge that it was familiar to the Hindus at least two or three centuries before Christ.15 It illustrates the date of both works to observe that, although the heroes in both are incarnations of Vishnu, Rama 11 A cursory view of the portion 12 See p. 99, and Book IV. Ch. i. of the Rig Veda, translated by Mr. 13 Oriental Magazine, vol. iii. p. Rosen, does not raise our opinion 133. of those works. It seems to be a u Translation at the place just collection of short hymns addressed referred to, and Professor Wilson, to the gods of the elements and the Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. p. heavenly bodies, conveying praises 101. and petitions, little varied, and but 15 Oriental Magazine, vol. iii. p. rarely showing signs of a poetic spirit. 133. [Prof. Lassen (Ind. Alterthums- The topics of praise appear to be kunde, vol. i.) maintains that the confined to the effect of each god's principal part of the " Maha Bharata " power on the material world ; and is " alter als die Herrschaft des the prayers are even less spiritual, Buddhismus," i.e. than Asoka's time, being, in a great majority of in- — ED.] stances, for wealth alone. 170 THE "MAHA BHARATA an cha- commonly appears throughout the poem in his human racter alone, and though Crishna is sometimes declared to be the Supreme Being in a human form, yet his actions imply no such divinity, and the passages in which his identity with the ruler of the universe is most clearly stated may be sus- pected of being the production of a later period than the rest.16 With the exception of Mr. Colebrooke (who includes them in his censure of the sacred poetry), all who have read the heroic poems in the original are enthusiastic in their praise ; and their beauties have been most felt by those whose own pro- ductions entitle their judgment to most respect. Nor is this admiration confined to critics who have peculiarly devoted themselves to Oriental literature : Milman and Schlegel vie with Wilson and Jones in their applause ; and from one or other of those writers we learn the simplicity and originality of the composition ; the sublimity, grace, and pathos of par- ticular passages ; the natural dignity of the actors ; the holy purity of the manners, and the inexhaustible fertility of ima- gination in the authors. From such evidence, and not from translations in prose, we should form our opinions of the originals. If we were obliged to judge from such of those literal versions as we possess in English (which are mostly from the Ramayana "), we should be unable to discover any of the beauties dwelt on, except simplicity ; and should con- ceive the poems to be chiefly characterised by extreme flatness and prolixity. Some of the poetical translations exhibit portions more worthy of the encomiums bestowed on them. The specimens of the " Maha Bharata ':i which appeared, in blank verse, in the Oriental Magazine,11 are of this last de- scription. It is true that, though selections, and improved by compression, they are still tediously diffuse ; but they contain many spirited and poetical passages : the similes, in particular, are short, simple, and picturesque : and, on the whole, the author must be acknowledged to tread, at whatever distance, on the path of Homer. The episode of " Nala and Damayanti," in the same poem,18 being a domestic story, is better fitted than battles to the Hindu genius ; and is a model of beautiful simplicity. Among the other episodes in the same poem (as it now stands) is the " Bhagavad Gita," which is supposed to be the work of a much later age.19 It is a poetical exposition of the doctrines 16 Preface to the Vishnu Purdna, Wilson's Collected Works, vol. iii. pp. p. ix. 290-341.— ED.] 17 For December, 1824, and March 18 Translated by the Rev. H. H. and September, 1825. [These have (afterwards Dean) Milman. been since republished in Professor 19 Translated by Mr. (afterwards Sir Charles) Wilkins, in 1784. III. 6 DESCRIPTIVE POETRY 171 of a particular school of theology, and has been admired for the clearness and beauty of the language and illustrations. Whatever may be its merits as to clearness, it deserves high praise for the skill with which it is adapted to the original epic, and for the tenderness and elegance of the narrative by means of which it is introduced. The legendary part of the Puranas may be regarded as belonging to this description of poetry. Some of the extracts introduced by Colonel Kennedy in his " Researches into Hindu Mythology " are spirited and poetical. The portion of the " Ramayana " of Bodhayana, translated by Mr. Ellis in the Oriental Magazine for September, 1826, is more conformable to European taste than the other trans- lations ; but it seems doubtful, from the note in page 8, whether it is designed to be a literal translation ; and, consequently, it cannot safely be taken as a specimen of Hindu poetry. The ' Meghaduta v 20 is an excellent example of purely descriptive poetry. A spirit banished from heaven charges a cloud with a message to his celestial mate, and describes the countries over which it will have to pass. The poet avails himself of the favourite Hindu topic of the setting in of the rainy season, amidst assembled clouds and muttering thunder, the revival of nature from its previous languor, the rejoicing of some animals at the approach of rain, and the long lines of cranes and other migratory birds that appear in the higher regions of the sky : he describes the varied landscape and the numerous cities over which the cloud is to pass, interspersing allusions to the tales which are associated with the different scenes. Intermixed with the whole are the lamentations of the exile himself, and his recollections of all the beauties and enjoyments from which he is excluded. The description is less exuberant than in most poems, but it does not escape the tameness which has been elsewhere ascribed to Sanscrit verse. The " Gita Govinda, or Songs of Jay a Deva," 81 are the only specimens I know of pure pastoral. They exhibit, in perfection, the luxuriant imagery, the voluptuous softness, and the want of vigour and interest which form the beauties and defects of the Hindu school. They are distinguished also by the use of conceits ; which, as the author lived as late as the fourteenth century, are, per- haps, marks of the taste introduced by the Mahometans. 20 Translated by Professor Wilson. 21 Asiatic Researches vol. iii. p. and published with the original 185. Sanscrit, in 1813. 172 THE FINE ARTS I have seen no specimen of Hindu satire. Some of their dramatic performances seem to partake of this character.22 Judging from the heaviness of the ludicrous parts occasionally introduced into the regular plays, I should not expect to find much success in this department. Though there are several other poetical works translated, enough has, perhaps, been said on this subject, considering the little value of opinions formed on such grounds. An im- portant part of the Hindu literature, however, still remains to be noticed, in their tales and fables ; in both of which species of composition they appear to have been the instructors of all the rest of mankind. The most ancient fables (those of Bidpai) have been found almost unchanged in their Sanscrit dress ; and to them almost all the fabulous relations of other countries have been clearly traced.23 The complicated scheme of story-telling, tale within tale, like the " Arabian Nights," seems also to be of their invention, as are the subjects of many well-known tales and romances, both Oriental and European. In their native form, they are told with simplicity, and not without spirit and interest. It is remarkable, however, that the taste for description seems here to have changed sides, the Hindu stories having none of those gorgeous and picturesque accompaniments which are so captivating in the Arabian and Persian tales.24 CHAPTER VII THE FINE AETS Music THE Hindu music appears, from the account of Sir W. Jones1 and Mr. Paterson,2 to be systematic and refined. They have eighty-four modes,3 of which thirty-six are in 22 See Wilson's Hindoo Drama, vol. 1 Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. p. 55. iii. p. 97, etc., of the Appendix. 2 Ibid. vol. ix. p. 445. 23 By Mr. Colebrooke, the Baron 3 Sir W. Jones explains that these de Sacy, and Professor Wilson. modes are not to be confounded with 24 As a guide to further inquiry our modern modes which result from into the Indian origin of European the system of accords now established fictions, consult the Transactions of in Europe. The Indian modes are the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 156. formed partly " by giving the lead to [This is Professor Wilson's paper on one or other of our twelve sounds, the Panchatantra, reprinted in his and varying, in seven different ways, Collected Works, vol. iv. pp. 1 — 80. the position of the semitones." This See also his papers on the Katha gives the number of eighty-four, sarit Sagara of Somadeva, Collected which has been retained, although Works, vol. iii. pp. 156 — 268 ; vol. iv. many of the original, or rather pos- pp. 81-159. — ED.] sible modes, have been dispensed III. 7 MUSIC, PAINTING AND SCULPTURE 173 general use, and each of which, it appears, has a peculiar expression, and the power of moving some particular sentiment or affection. They are named from the seasons of the year and the hours of the day and night, and are each considered to possess some quality appropriate to the time. Musical science is said to have declined, like all others ; and, certainty, the present airs do not give to an unlearned ear the impression of any such variety of complication. They are almost all of one sort, remarkably sweet and plaintive, and distinguishable at once from the melodies of any other nation. To do them justice, however, they should be heard from a single voice, or accompanied by the vina, which has been called the Indian lyre. The usual performance is by a band of fiddles and drums beaten with the fingers. It is loud and unmusical, and would drown the voices of the singers if they were not exerted to a pitch that is fatal to all delicacy or softness.4 Painting Painting is still in the lowest stage. Walls of houses are often painted in water colours, and sometimes in oils. The subjects are mythology, battles, processions, wrestlers, male and female figures, and animals, with no landscape, or at best a tree or two, or a building stuck in without any knowledge of perspective or any attention to light and shade. Of the works of other nations they most resemble the paintings on the walls of Egyptian tombs. They have also pictures of a small size in a sort of distemper, which, in addition to the above subjects, include likenesses of individuals. The Hindus have often beautifully illuminated manuscripts, but the other ornaments are better executed than the figures. If portraits were not spoken of as common in the dramas, I should suspect that they had learned this art from the Mussul- mans, by whom (in spite of the discouragements given by the Mahometan religion) they are very far surpassed. Sculpture One would expect that sculpture would be carried to high with, and the number made up by the only native singers and players aids drawn " from the association of whom Europeans are in the way of ideas, and the mutilation of the regu- hearing, in most parts of India, are lar scales." regarded by their scientific brethren 4 It is but fair to give the following in much the same light as a ballad- opinion from a person eminently singer at the corner of the street by qualified to judge (in the Oriental the primo soprano of the Italian Quarterly Magazine, for December, Opera." 1825, p. 197) :— " We may add that 174 ARCHITECTURE perfection among a people so devoted to polytheism ; and it certainly is not for want of employment that it has failed to attain to excellence. Besides innumerable images, all caves and temples are covered with statues and reliefs ; and the latter are often bold, including complicated groups, and expressing various passions. They are sometimes very spirited, and neither the sculptures nor paintings fail to produce very fine specimens of grace in figure and attitude ; but there is a total ignorance of anatomy, and an inattention even to the obvious appearances of the limbs and muscles, together with a disregard of proportion between different figures, and a want of skill in grouping, which must entirely exclude the best of the Hindu sculpture from coming into the most remote comparison with European works of art. Architecture The numerous edifices erected by the Hindus attest their knowledge of the practice of architecture ; and, if any con- fidence can be given to the claims of the books of which frag- ments still remain, they seem early to have been acquainted with the science. A candid and judicious review of the extant works on architecture is contained in a late essay by an intelligent native, where also the system taught by them is ably developed.5 The principles of art seem, by this essay, to have been well understood ; and numerous rules appear to have been derived from them. The various mouldings, twelve in number, are described ; some (the cyma, toro, cavetto, etc.) are the same as our own, and a few are peculiar. The forms and proportions of pedestals, bases, shafts, capitals, and entablatures are given ; how fully, in some cases, may be conjectured from there being sixty-four sorts of bases. There are no fixed orders, but the height of a column may vary from six to ten diameters, and its propor- tions regulate, though not strictly, those of the capitals, intercolumniations, etc. This place does not admit of any specification of the rules of architecture, or anything beyond a general notion of the native buildings which are now to be seen in India. The style of those structures has been supposed to resemble those of Egypt. It does so only in the massy cha- racter both of the buildings and the materials, and in the quantity of sculpture on some descriptions of edifices. The 5 Essay on Hindu Architecture, by Rain Raz, published by the Oriental Translation Fund. III. 7 ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES 175 practice of building high towers at gateways is also similar, but in Egypt there is one on each side, and in India only one over the gateway. Some few of the Egyptian columns bear a resemblance to some in the cave temples ; but these are all the points in which any similarity can be discovered. The two most striking features in Egyptian architecture are, the use of pyramids, and the manner in which the sides of every building slope inwards until they reach the top, where they meet a flat roof with a particularly bold and deep cornice. Neither of these characteristics is to be found in India. Pyra- midal roofs to the halls before temples are not uncommon, but they are hollow within, and supported by walls or pillars. Solid pyramids are unknown ; and even the roofs are diversi- fied on the outside with acroteria and other ornaments, that take away all resemblance to the Egyptian pyramids. Walls are always perpendicular ; and though towers of temples diminish gradually, yet they do so in a manner peculiar to themselves, and bear as much resemblance to our slender steeples as to the broad masses of Egyptian architecture. They, in fact, hold an intermediate place between both, but have little likeness to either. In the south they are generally a succession of stories, each narrower than the one below it ; and north of the Godaveri they more frequently taper upwards, but with an outward curve in the side, by means of which there is a greater swell near the middle than even at the base. They do not come quite to a point, but are crowned by a flattened dome, or some more fanciful termination, over which is, in all cases, a high pinnacle of metal gilt, or else a trident, or other emblem peculiar to the god. Though plainer than the rest of the temple, the towers are never quite plain, and are often stuck over with pinnacles, and covered with other ornaments of every description. The sanctuary is always a small, nearly cubical chamber, scarcely lighted by one small door, at which the worshipper presents his offering and prefers his supplication. In very small temples this is the whole building ; but in others it is surmounted by the tower, is approached through spacious halls, and is surrounded by courts and colonnades, including other temples and religious buildings. At Seringam there are seven different enclosures, and the outer one is near four miles in circumference.6 The colonnades which line the interior of the courts, or form approaches to the temple, are often so deep as to require many rows of pillars, which are generally 6 Orme's Indostan, vol. i. p. 182. 176 TEMPLES high, slender, and delicate, but thickly set. Gothic aisles have been compared to avenues of oaks, and these might be likened to groves of palm trees. There are often lower colonnades, in which, and in many other places, are highly-wrought columns, round, square, and octagon, or mixing all three ; sometimes cut into the shape of vases, and hung with chains or garlands ; sometimes decorated with the forms of animals, and sometimes partly composed of groups of human figures. Clusters of columns and pilasters are frequent in the more solid parts of the building ; where, also, the number of salient and retiring angles, and the corresponding breaks in the entablature, increase the richness and complexity of the effect. The posts and lintels of the doors, the panels and other spaces, are enclosed and almost covered by deep borders of mouldings, and a profusion of arabesques of plants, flowers, fruits, men, animals, and imaginary beings ; in short, of every species of embellishment that the most fertile fancy could devise. These arabesques, the running patterns of plants and creepers in particular, are often of an elegance scarcely equalled in any other part of the world. The walls are often filled with sculptures in relief ; ex- hibiting animated pictures of the wars of the gods and other legends. Groups of mythological figures, likewise, often run along the frieze, and add great richness to the entablature.7 Temples, such as have been described, are sometimes found assembled in considerable numbers. At the ruins of Bhu- vaneswara, in Orissa, for instance, it is impossible to turn the eye in any direction from the great tower without taking into the view upwards of forty or fifty stone towers of temples, none less than fifty or sixty, and some from 150 to 180 feet high.8 Those of Bijayanagar, near the left bank of the river Tumbadra, are of still more magnificent dimensions. But, notwithstanding their prodigious scale, the effect produced by the Hindu pagodas never equals the simple majesty and symmetry of a Grecian temple, nor even the grandeur arising from the swelling domes and lofty arches of a mosque. The extensive parts of the building want height, and the high ones are deficient in breadth ; there is no com- bination between the different parts ; and the general result 7 There are some beautiful speci- did works of the Daniells exhibit in mens of Hindu architecture in Dod's perfection every species of cave or Rdjasthdn. The work of Ram Raz temple in all the wide range of India, shows the details everywhere em- 8 Mr. Stirling, Asiatic Researches, ployed, as well as the general archi- vol. xv. p. 307. tecture of the south ; but the splen- III. 7 CAVE-TEMPLES 177 produces a conviction that, in this art, as in most other things, the Hindus display more richness and beauty in details than greatness in the conception of the whole. The cave temples, alone, exhibit boldness and grandeur of design. The impression made on the spectator by favourable specimens of temples, is that of great antiquity and sanctity, accompanied with a sort of romantic mystery, which neither the nature of the religion itself, nor the familiarity occasioned by the daily sight of its ceremonies, seems suited to inspire. Though in temples of recent formation there is some- times a mixture of the Mahometan style, yet the general character of these buildings is strikingly original, and unlike the structures of other nations. We may infer from this that the principles of the art were established in early times ; but we have no reason to think that any of the great works which now attract admiration are of very ancient date. Even the caves have no claim to great antiquity. The inscriptions, in a character which was in use at least three centuries before Christ, and which has long been obsolete, would lead us to believe that the Bauddha caves must be older than the Christian era ; 9 but those of the Hindus are shown beyond doubt, from the mythological subjects on their walls, to be at least as modern as the eighth or ninth century.10 The sculptured works at Maha Balipuram, south of Madras, have been carried back to the remotest era ; but the accounts on the spot assign their construction to the twelfth or thirteenth centuries after Christ, and the sculptures on the walls afford a perfect con- firmation of the tradition.11 Some of the most celebrated built temples are of very modern date. The pagoda of Jagannath (of which we have heard so much), and the Black Pagoda in the same district, have been mentioned as among the most ancient of Hindu temples ; yet the first is well known to have been completed in A.D. 1198, and the second in A.D. 124 1.12 Many of the other great temples are doubtless much older than this ; but there are no proofs of the great antiquity of any of them, and some presumptions to the contrary. The palaces are more likely to adopt innovations than the temples ; but many retain the Hindu character, though constructed in comparatively recent times. 9 An extensive Bauddha cave is Literary Society of Bombay, and Pro- mentioned by the Chinese traveller in fessor Wilson, Mackenzie Papers, the very beginning of the fifth cen- Preface, p. Ixx. tury, and must have been excavated u Professor Wilson, Mackenzie Pa- in the fourth at latest. — Journal of pers, Introduction, p. Ixxi. the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. v. p. 12 Stirling's Orissa, Asiatic JRe- 103. searches, vol. xv. pp. 315, 327. 10 Mr. Erskine, Transactions of the N 178 TANKS AND WELLS The oldest of these show little plan, or else have been so often added to that the original plan is lost. Being generally of solid construction, and with terraced roofs, the facility is great of building one house on the roof of another ; so that, besides spreading towards the sides, they are piled upwards to a great height, and with great irregularity. They generally contain small courts surrounded with high buildings ; sometimes open, and sometimes shaded with the trees best adapted for that purpose. There is always a deep colonnade round each court. The great rooms of state are upstairs, closed round like ours, not running to the whole height of the house and open at one side like Mahometan divans. The stairs are narrow and steep, and cut out of the thickness of the wall. The same remarks apply to the private houses, which are hardly entitled to come under the head of architecture. Those of rich people have a small court or two, with build- ings round, almost always terraced, sometimes left in the full glare of the white stucco, sometimes coloured of a dusky red, and the walls sometimes painted with trees or mythological and other stories. All are as crowded and ill-arranged as can be imagined. Perhaps the greatest of all the Hindu works are the tanks, which are reservoirs for water, of which there are two kinds ; one dug out of the earth, and the other formed by damming up the mouth of a valley. In the former case there are stone or other steps all round, down to the water, generally the whole length of each face, and in many instances temples round the edge, and little shrines down the steps. In the other sort these additions are confined to the embankment. The dug tanks are often near towns, for bathing, etc., but they are also made use of for irrigation. The dams are always for the latter purpose. Many of them are of vast extent, and the embankments are magnificent works, both in respect to their elevation and solidity. Some of them form lakes, many miles in circumference, and water great tracts of country. One species of Hindu well is also remarkable. It is fre- quently of great depth and of considerable breadth. The late ones are often round, but the more ancient, square. They are surrounded, for their whole depth, with galleries, in the rich and massy style of Hindu works, and have often a broad flight of steps, which commences at some distance from the well, and passes under part of the' galleries down to the water. The most characteristic of the Hindu bridges are com- posed of stone posts, several of which form a pier, and which III. 8 THE INDIAN MANUFACTURES 179 are connected by stone beams. Such bridges are common in the south of India. Others are on thick piers of masonry, with narrow Gothic arches ; but their antiquity is doubtful, nor does it appear that the early Hindus knew the arch, or could construct vaults or domes, otherwise than by layers of stone, projecting beyond those beneath, as in the Treasury of Atreus in Mycenae. Among other species of architecture must be mentioned the columns and arches, or rather gateways, erected in honour of victories. There is a highly- wrought example of the column, 120 feet high, at Chit or, which is represented in Tod's " Rajasthan." 13 Of the triumphal arches (if that term may be applied to square openings), the finest example is at Barnagar, in the north of Guzerat. It is indeed among the richest specimens of Hindu art.14 CHAPTER VIII OTHER ARTS Weaving — Dyeing — Working in gold. OF the Indian manufactures, the most remarkable is that of cotton cloth, the beauty and delicacy of which was so long admired, and which in fineness of texture has never yet been approached in any other country. Their silk manufactures were also excellent, and very pro- bably known to them, as well as the art of obtaining the material, at a very early period.1 Gold and silver brocade were also favourite, and, perhaps, original, manufactures of India. The brilliancy and permanency of many of their dyes has not yet been equalled in Europe. Their taste for minute ornament fitted them to excel in goldsmiths' work. Their fame for jewels originated more in the bounty of nature than in their own skill ; for their taste is so bad that they give a preference to yellow pearls and table diamonds ; and their setting is comparatively rude, though they often combine their jewellery into very gorgeous ornaments. Their way of working at all trades is very simple, and their tools few and portable. A smith brings his small anvil, and the peculiar sort of bellows which he uses, to the house where * Vol. i. pp. 328, 761. * Mr. Colebrooko, Asiatic Resear- u [Mr. Fergusson's works are the ches, vol. v. p. 61. latest and best authority on Hindu architecture. — ED.] 180 AGRICULTURE he is wanted. A carpenter does so with more ease, working on the floor, and securing any object with his toes as easily as with his hands. CHAPTER IX AGRICULTURE THE nature of the soil and climate makes agriculture a simple art. A light plough, which he daily carries on his shoulder to the field, is sufficient, with the help of two small oxen, to enable the husbandman to make a shallow furrow in the surface, in which to deposit the grain. Sowing is often performed by a sort of drill (it is scarcely entitled to the addition of plough), which sheds the seed through five or six hollow canes ; and a board on which a man stands, serves for a harrow. A hoe, a mattock, and a few other articles, complete the im- plements of husbandry. Reaping is performed with the sickle : the grain is trodden out by cattle, brought home in carts, and kept in large dry pits under ground. The fields, though the bounds of each are carefully marked, are generally unenclosed ; and nothing interrupts their continuity, except occasional varieties in the crops. But although the Indian agriculture has such a character of simplicity, there are some peculiarities in it which call forth certain sorts of skill and industry not required elsewhere, and there are some descriptions of cultivation to which the former character does not at all apply. The summer harvest is sufficiently watered by the rains, but a great part of the winter crop requires artificial irrigation. This is afforded by rivers, brooks, and ponds ; but chiefly by wells. In the best parts of the country there is a well in every field, from which water is conveyed in channels, and received in little beds, divided by low ridges of earth. It is raised by oxen in a large bucket, or rather bag, of pliant leather, which has often an ingenious contrivance, by which it empties itself when drawn up. In some soils it is necessary, every three or four years, to eradicate the weeds by deep ploughing, which is done with a heavy plough, drawn by buffaloes, at a season when the ground is saturated with moisture. Manure is little used for general cultivation, but is required in quantities for sugar cane, and many other sorts of produce. Many sorts also require to be fenced ; and are sometimes surrounded by mud walls, but usually by high and impenetrable hedges of cactus, III. 10 COMMERCE 181 euphorbium, aloe, and other strong prickly plants, as well as by other thorny bushes and creepers. One great labour is to scare away the flocks of birds which devour a great part of the harvest in spite of all precautions. Scarecrows have some effect, but the chief dependence is on a man, who stands on a high wooden stage overlooking the field, shouting, and throwing stones from a sling, which is so contrived as to make a loud crack at every discharge. The Indians understood rotation of crops, though their almost inexhaustible soil renders it often unnecessary. They class the soils with great minuteness, and are well informed about the produce for which each is best, and the mode of cultivation which it requires. They have the injudicious practice of mixing different kinds of grain in one field, some- times to come up together, and sometimes in succession. Some of the facts mentioned affect armies and travellers. At particular seasons, the whole face of the country is as open and passable as the road, except near villages and streams, where the high enclosures form narrow lanes, and are great obstructions to bodies of passengers. Large water-courses, or ducts, by which water is drawn from rivers or ponds, also form serious obstacles. These remarks are always liable to exceptions from varieties in different parts of India ; and in the rice countries, as Bengal and the coast of Coromandel, they are almost inapplicable. There, the rice must be completely flooded, often requires to be transplanted at a certain stage, and is a particularly laborious and disagreeable sort of cultivation. CHAPTER X COMMERCE External commerce — Trade from the west coast — Coasting trade — Trade from the east coast — Hindu settlements in Java and other eastern islands — Trade in times subsequent to the Greeks — Exports in ancient times — Imports — Inland trade. THOUGH many articles of luxury are mentioned in Menu, it does not appear that any of them were the produce of foreign countries. Their abundance, however, proves that there was an open trade between the different parts of India. There is one passage in the Code 1 in which interest on money lent on risk is said to be fixed by " men well acquainted with sea voyages, or journeys by land." As the word used in the original for sea is not applicable to any inland waters, 1 Ch. viii. §§ 156, 157. 182 EARLY INTERCOURSE WITH MEDITERRANEAN the fact may be considered as established, that the Hindus navigated the ocean as early as the age of the Code, but it is probable that their enterprise was confined to a coasting trade. An intercourse with the Mediterranean no doubt took place at a still earlier period ; but it is uncertain whether it was carried on by land, or partly by sea ; and, in either case, whether the natives of India took a share in it beyond their own limits.2 It seems not improbable that it was in the hands of the Arabs, and that part crossed the narrow sea from the coast on the west of Sind to Muscat, and then passed through Arabia to Egypt and Syria ; while another branch might go by land, or along the coast to Babylon and Persia.3 Our first clear accounts of the seas west of India give no signs of trade carried on by Indians in that direction. Nearchus, who commanded Alexander's fleet (in 326 B.C.), did not meet a single ship in coasting from the Indus to the Euphrates ; and expressly says that fishing-boats were the only vessels he saw, and those only in particular places, and in small numbers. Even in the Indus, though there were boats, they were few and small ; for, by Arrian's account, Alexander was obliged to build most of his fleet himself, including all the larger vessels, and to man them with sailors from the Mediterranean.4 The same author, in enumerating the Indian classes, says of the fourth class (that of tradesmen and artisans), " of this class also are the shipbuilders and the sailors, as many as navigate the rivers : " 5 from which we may infer that, as far as his knowledge went, there were no Indians employed on the sea. The next accounts that throw light on the western trade of India are furnished by a writer of the second century before Christ,6 whose knowledge only extended to the intercourse between Egypt and the south of Arabia, but who mentions cinnamon and cassia as among the articles imported, and who, moreover, expressly states that ships came from India to the 2 [Whether Ophir is to be looked for in India, or, as seems more prob- able, in the " Golden Chersonese " or Malacca, it is almost certain that- some of the articles brought by the PhoBnician and Jewish fleets in Solo- mon's days came from India (see 1 Kings x. 22). The Hebrew words are evidently of foreign, and probably of Indian, origin ; thus kof, " ape," seems to be the Sanskrit kapi ; thukki, " a peacock," is probably the Tamil tokei, and shenhabbim, " ivory," is explained by Gesenius as a contraction for shen-a-hibbim, the latter part being the Sanskrit ibha, " an elephant," with the He- brew article prefixed. — ED.] 3 Vincent's Commerce and Naviga- tion of the Ancients, vol. ii. pp. 357— 370. 4 See Expeditio Alexandri, book vi. pp. 235, 236, ed. 1704, and Indica, chap, xviii. p. 332, of the same edition. 5 Indica, chap. xii. p. 325. 6 Agatharchides preserved in Dio- dorus and Photius. See Vincent's Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients, vol. ii. p. 25. III. 10 PERIPLUS OF THE ERYTHRAEAN SEA 183 ports of Sabsea (the modern Yemen). From all that appears in this author we should conclude that the trade was entirely in the hands of the Arabs. It is not till the first century after Christ that we obtain a distinct account of the course of this trade, and a complete enumeration of the commodities which were the objects of it. This is given in the " Periplus of the Erythraean Sea," ap- parently the work of an experienced practical sailor in that part of the ocean. He describes the whole coast of the Red Sea, and of the south-east of Arabia, and that of India, from the Indus round Cape Comorin, to a point high up on the coast of Coromandel ; and gives accounts of the commerce carried on within those limits, and in some places beyond them. From this writer it appears that, nearly until this time, the ships from India continued to cross the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and creep along the shore of Arabia to the mouth of the Red Sea ; but that, at a recent period, the Greeks from Egypt, if not all navigators, used to quit the coast soon after leaving the Red Sea, and stretch across the Indian Ocean to the coast of Malabar. The trade thus carried on was very extensive, but appears to have been conducted by Greeks and Arabs. Arabia is described as a country filled with pilots, sailors, and persons concerned in commercial business ; but no mention is made of any similar description of persons among the Indians, nor is there any allusion to Indians out of their own country except that they are mentioned with the Arabs and Greeks, as forming a mixed population, who were settled in small numbers on an island near the mouth of the Red Sea, supposed to be Socotra. So much, indeed, were the Arabs the carriers of the Indian trade, that in Pliny's time their settlers filled the western shores of Ceylon, and were also found established on the coast of Malabar.7 But in the same work (the " Peri- plus ") the Indians are represented as actively engaged in the traffic on their own coast. There were boats at the Indus to receive the cargoes of the ships which were unable to enter the river on account of the bar at its mouth ; fishing-boats were kept in employ near the opening of the Gulf of Cambay to pilot vessels coming to Barygaza, or Baroch ; where, then as now, they were exposed to danger from the extensive banks of mud, and from the rapid rise of the tides. From Baroch southward, the coast was studded with ports, which the author calls local emporia, and which, we may infer, were visited by vessels employed in the coasting trade ; but it is not till the author has got to the coast on the east of Cape Comorin, that 7 Vincent's Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients, vol. ii. p. 283. 184 EARLY HINDU EXPEDITION TO JAVA he first speaks of large vessels which crossed the Bay of Bengal to the Ganges and to Chryse, which is probably Sumatra, or the Malay peninsula. This last circumstance is in complete accordance with the accounts derived from the east, by which the inhabitants of the coast of Coromandel seem early to have been distinguished by their maritime enterprise from their countrymen on the west of India. It is probable, from the nature of the countries which they water, that at the same time when Nearchus saw so little sign of commerce on the Indus, the Ganges may have been covered with boats, as it is at this moment, and as the number of ancient and civilized kingdoms on its shores would lead us to anticipate. The commodities supplied by so rich and extensive a region could not but engage the attention of the less advanced countries in the Deckan ; and as the communication between that part of India and the Ganges was interrupted by forests, and plun- dering tribes, both probably even wilder than they are now, a strong temptation was held out to the sailors on the eastern coast to encounter the lesser danger of making the direct passage over the Bay of Bengal : on which, without being often out of sight of land, they would be beyond the reach of the inhabitants of the shore. This practice once established, it would be an easy effort to cross the upper part of the bay, and before long, the broadest portion of it also, which is bounded by the Malay peninsula and Sumatra. But, whatever gave the impulse to the inhabi- tants of the coast of Coromandel, it is from the north part of the tract that we first hear of the Indians who sailed boldly into the open sea. The histories of Java give a distinct account of a numerous body of Hindus from Clinga (Calinga), who landed on their island, civilized the inhabitants, and who fixed the date of their arrival by establishing the era still subsisting, the first year of which fell in the seventy-fifth year before Christ. The truth of this narrative is proved beyond doubt by the numerous and magnificent Hindu remains that still exist in Java, and by the fact that, although the common language is Malay, the sacred language, that of historical and poetical compositions, and of most inscriptions, is a dialect of Sanscrit. The early date is almost as decisively proved by the journal of the Chinese pilgrim in the end of the fourth century, who found Java entirely peopled by Hindus, and who sailed from the Ganges to Ceylon, from Ceylon to Java, and from Java to China, in ships manned by crews professing the Braminical religion.8 The Hindu religion in Java was after- wards superseded by that of Buddha ; but the Indian govern- 8 See Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. ix. pp. 136 — 138. III. 10 EARLY EXPORTS 185 ment subsisted till the end of the fourteenth century ; when it was subverted by Mahometan proselytes, converted by Arab missionaries in the course of the preceding century. The island of Bali, close to the east of Java, is still inhabited by Hindus, who have Malay or Tartar features, but profess to be of the four Hindu classes. It is not impossible that they may be so descended, notwithstanding the alteration in their features ; but it is more probable that their pure descent is a fiction, as we have an example of a still more daring imposture in the poets of Java, who have transferred the whole scene of the " Maha Bharata," with all the cities, kings, and heroes of the Jumna and Ganges, to their own island. The accounts of voyagers and travellers in times subse- quent to the ' Periplus " speak of an extensive commerce with India, but afford no information respecting the part taken in it by the Indians, unless it be by their silence ; for while they mention Chinese and Arab ships as frequenting the ports of India, they never allude to any voyage as having been made by a vessel of the latter country.9 Marco Polo, indeed, speaks of pirates on the coast of Malabar, who cruised for the whole summer ; but it appears, afterwards, that their practice was to lie at anchor, and con- sequently close to the shore, only getting under weigh on the approach of a prize. When Vasco da Gama reached the coast of Malabar, he found the trade exclusively in the hands of the Moors, and it was to their rivalry that he and his suc- cessors owed most of the opposition they encountered. The exports from India to the West do not seem, at the time of the ' Periplus," to have been very different from what they are now : 10 cotton cloth, muslin, and chintz of various kinds ; silk cloth, and thread ; indigo, and other dyes ; cinnamon and other spices ; sugar ; diamonds, pearls, emeralds, and many inferior stones ; steel ; drugs ; aroma tics ; and sometimes, female slaves.11 9 See, in particular, Marsden's Marco i«ipira P^TSif^J^S01 & a "t <§ C ~£ "% "o ^ *S ft"o "3 EH . § P C os jz H tl o • >• >• 8 "C JiS^ ^ •sStf.fcrf -o- £*oa [•^ w O ® ^ EH CO CO £r M ^ ' S « « § • • CO t> p. ft ft • a q "3 "3 "o § 1 1 1 ' 1| III . *L last mentioned. <—•'— v . . .... >O Q "^ fcj CO i-H I^COlft «•! C* •id ^ § U2 M fe •§ O . t*) d *-* • •• • PQ C ^ 5 ^ | &•§ § S "° 8 2 <-, S ^ -^ oo « K« g § q . _• * § § 2 ° P5tg_£'43co R RS * -0 >-w-«l . 'Q -o ri 8|« ftgeo _ », • JS . o g S i ^ « 2 2 2 • 1 Name. § g i 1 1 1 4 S % X^3^ N^w i*5 M Jfl ^39 v« P5SK w * H $ 91 ooSm P Vanaprastha, " dweller in the woods," which is the ancient accounts of the Hindu priesthood the usual designation of a Bramin in the third and religion, see Colebrooke, Asiatic Researches, stage. (Calcutta, Oriental Mag., March, 1827.) vol. ix. p. 296. '" Before quitting the subject of the confusion " Indica, cap. x. See also Diodorus, lib. ii. made by the ancients between the Bramins and p. 124, ed. 1601, where he adds many extra va- monastic orders, it may be observed that some gances about their equality and republican modern writers, even of those best acquainted institutions, with the distinction, have not marked it in their 258 INDEPENDENT STATES of the contrary to domestic slaves, and appears to have no suspicion of the existence of a servile class. It is possible that the mild form in which slavery appeared among the Siidras may have deceived the Greeks, accustomed to so different a system at home ; but it is still more probable that the remains of the servile condition of the Sudras, which subsisted in Menu's time, may have disappeared entirely before that of Alexander. The number of independent governments seems to have been as great as at other times. Alexander, in his partial invasion, met with many ; and Megasthenes heard that in all India there were 118. Many of these may have been very inconsiderable ; but some (the Prasii, for instance) possessed great kingdoms. Most of them seem to have been under rajas, as in Menu's time, and the circumstances of those which the Greeks called republics and aris- tocracies can easily be explained without supposing anything different from what now exists.' There have always been extensive tracts without any common head, some under petty chiefs, and some formed of independent villages ; in troubled times, also, toivns have often for a long period carried on their own government.44 All these would be called republics by the Greeks, who would naturally fancy their constitutions similar to what they had seen at home. But what their authors had particularly in view were the inde- pendent villages, which were in reality republics, and which would seem aristocratic or democratic as the village community was great or small in proportion to the other inhabitants.45 A more perfect example of such villages could not be found than existed but lately in Hariana, a country contiguous to those occupied by the Cathsei and Malli in Alexander's time. One of these (Biwani) required, in 1809, a regular siege by a large British force, and would probably have opposed to the Macedonians as obstinate a resistance as Sangala or any of the villages in the adjoining districts, which make so great a figure in the operations of Alexander. The force ascribed to the Indian kings is probably exaggerated. Porus, one of several who occupied the Panjab, is said to have had 200 elephants, 300 chariots, 4,000 horse, and 30,000 efficient infantry, which, as observed by Sir A. Burnes, is (substituting guns for chariots) exactly the establishment of Ranjit Sing, who is master of the whole Panjab, and several other territories.46 The most that we can concede to Arrian would be, that the armies which * Among those of the first description were " Further notices of the republic of Vaisali are the Sikhs (before Ranjit Sing's ascendency), to be found in ' Foe Koue Ki,' from which the whom Mr. Foster, though familiar with Indian following may be cited as throwing light on the governments, describes as being under a demo- interesting question of the government of thf.se cracy ; the chiefs of Shekhawet : anil various bodies : — ' II s'agit ici des habitans de la vilie dc other petty confederacies of chiefs. Of single Phi che li (Vaisali) lesquels formaient une repub- villages, the S6ndis and (Irasias mentioned by lique et s'appelaient en Sanscrit Litchtchiwi, ou Sir John Malcolm (Account of Miilwa, vol. i. p. Litchhe dans la transcription Chinoise. Tchu 508) furnish examples. The same author alludes li tchhe signifie done tous les Litchtchiwi ou la to towns in a state such as has been mentioned. minion des Litchhe.' (Klaproth, p. 240.) Again 43 See the account of townships in the chapter (Klaproth, note viii. Les Deux Rois, p. 251) : ' II on revenue, p. 67. [I extract the following in- parait que quoique les habitans de Vaisali eussent teresting remarks from Mr. B. Thomas's paper une forme de gouvernement republicaine, ils on the Sah kings of Saurashtra : — " There is avaient pourtant aussi un roi. Les deux rois de evidence sufficient to the fact of the existence of notre texte sorit done A (che chi de Magadha, et republics in India in early times, though but few celui qui etait chef de 1'etat des Litchhe ou Litch- distinct details are extant as to their exact forms tchiwi de Vaisali.' " — ED.] of constitution. The republic of which most "' As an exaggerated opinion appears to be frequent mention is made is that of Vaisali, which sometimes entertained of the extent of the terri- is repeatedly referred to in the Dulva, and casual tories and dependencies of Porus, it may be worth indications are afforded of the powers possessed while to state the limits assigned to them by by the citizens in the time of Sakya. (Csoma de Arrian and Strabo. His western boundary was Korps, As. Res. xx. 66, 72.) Some curious infor- the Hydaspes. Beyond that river, in the centre, mation on the general subject is also conveyed was his mortal enemy Taxiles : on the north of in the following passage from Csoma de Koros' whose dominions was Abissares, an independent Analysis of this work, As. Res. xx. 69. prince whom Arrian calls king of the mountain The story of Dumbu, a minister (of state) Indians ; ' and on the south, Sopithes, another and his king Hphags-skyes-po, in Lus-Hphags independent sovereign, in whose territories the (Sans. Videha). Dumbu escapes to Yangs-pa Salt range lay ; - so that Porus could possess chan (Vaisalf), and settles there. He first de- nothing to the west of the Hydaspes. On the clines to give his advice in the assembly of the north, his territory extended to the woods under people there, but afterwards renders them great the mountains ; 3 but it did not include the whole service by his prudent counsel. . . . country between the Hydaspes and the Acesines, ' The above-mentioned Dumbu is made chief for besides other tribes who might by possibility tribune there, and after his death his second son. be dependent on Porus, there were the Glauca- His elder son retires to Rajagriha in Magadha.' nicae or G-lausse, who had thirty-seven large cities, 1 Arrian, lib. v. cap. 8. " Strabo, lib. xv. p. 481. 3 Ibid. p. 480. APPEND. Ill GREEK DESCRIPTION OF INDIA 259 he speaks of as permanent were the whole of the tumultuary forces which any of those princes could, in case of necessity, bring into the field. The numbers alleged by Pliny are beyond probability, even on that or any other supposition. The fourfold division of the army (horse, foot, chariots, and elephants) was the same as that of Menu ; but Strabo makes a sextuple division, by adding the commissariat and naval department. The soldiers were all of the military class, were in constant pay during war and peace, and had servants to perform all duties not strictly military. Their horses and arms were supplied by the state (an arrangement very unlike that usually adopted now). It is stated, repeatedly, that they never ravaged the country, and that the husbandmen pursued their occupations undisturbed while hostile armies were engaged in battle. This, though evidently an exaggeration, is probably derived from the Hindu laws of war recorded in Menu, which must have made a strong impression on the Greeks, unaccustomed as they were to so mild and humane a system. The bravery of the armies opposed to the Greeks is always spoken of as superior to that of other nations with whom they had contended in Asia ; and the loss acknowledged, though incredibly small, is much greater in the Indian battles than in those with Darius. Their arms, with the exception of firearms, were the same as at present. The peculiar Indian bow, now only used in mountainous countries, which is drawn with the assistance of the feet, and shoots an arrow more than six feet long, is particularly described by Arrian, as are the long swords and iron spears, both of which are still occasionally in use. Their powerful bits, and great management of their horses, were remarkable even then. The presents made by the Indian princes indicate wealth ; and all the descriptions of the parts visited by the Greeks give the idea of a country teeming with population, and enjoying the highest degree of prosperity. Apollodorus *7 states that there were, between the Hydaspes and Hypanis (Hyphasis), 1,500 cities, none of which was less than Cos ; which, with every allowance for exaggeration, supposes a most flourishing territory. Palibothra was eight miles long and one and a half broad, defended by a deep ditch and a high rampart, with 570 towers and 04 gates. The numerous commercial cities and ports for foreign trade, which are mentioned at a later period (in the " Periplus "), attest the progress of the Indians in a department which more than any other shows the advanced state of a nation. The police is spoken of as excellent. Megasthenes relates that in the camp of Sandracottus, which he estimates to have contained 400,000 men, the sums stolen daily did not amount to more than 200 drachms (about £3). Justice seems to have been administered by the king and his assessors ; and the few laws mentioned are in the spirit of those of Menu. On this subject, however, the Greeks are as ill informed as might have been expected. They all believe the laws to have been unwritten ; some even maintain that the Indians were ignorant of letters, while others praise the beauty of their writing.48 The revenue was derived from the land, the workmen, and the traders.49 The land revenue is stated by Strabo to amount (as in Menu) to one fourth of the produce ; but he declares, in plain terms, that " the whole land is the king's," and is farmed to the cultivators on the above terms.50 He mentions, in another place, that the inhabitants of some villages cultivate the land in and whom Alexander put under Porus ; * thereby and Acesines ; and that his immediate neigh- adding much country to what he had before bours on every side were independent of him, and possessed.5 On the east, between the Acesines most of them at war with him. If he had any and Hydraotes, he had another Porus, who was dependents, they must have been between the his bitter enemy.G To the south-east of him rivers already mentioned, where there were cer- were the Cathaei, and other independent nations, tainly different tribes ; but of those we know against whom he assisted Alexander.7 To the that the G-laucaniciB were independent of him, south were the Malli, against whom Porus and and we have no reason to think the others were Abissares had once led their combined forces dependent, with those of many others, and had been de- *7 Strabo, lib. xv. feated." « Strabo, lib. xv. p. 493, ed. 1587. From this it appears that the dominions of Arrian's Indica, p. 11. Porus were all situated between the Hydaspes '° Strabo, lib. xv. p. 484, ed. 1587. 4 Arrian, lib. v. cap. 20. '• Ibid. cap. 21. ° Ibid. cap. 21. ' Ibid, cap. 22, 24. - Ibid. cap. 22. 260 PHILOSOPHY common, according to custom still much in use. The portion of the revenue paid in work by handicraftsmen (as stated by Menu, quoted on page 23) is also noticed by Strabo. His account of the heads of markets (ayopovofj.oi) ; their measurement of fields and distribution of water for irrigation ; their administration of justice ; and their being the channels for payment of the revenue ; together with their general superintendence of the trades, roads, and all affairs within their limits, agrees exactly with the functions of the present patels, or heads of villages ; and that of the heads of towns, though distinct, bears a strong resemblance to the duties of similar officers at the present day. Little is said about the religion of the Indians. Strabo mentions that they worship Jupiter Pluvius (which may mean Indra), the Ganges, and other local gods ; that they wear no crowns at sacrifices ; and that they stifle the victim instead of stabbing it, — a curious coincidence with some of the mystical sacri- fices of the Bramins, which are supposed to be of modern date. Various other ancients are quoted by Mr. Colebrooke,51 to show that they likewise worshipped the sun. Much is said by the Greeks of the Indian worship of Bacchus and Hercules ; but obviously in consequence of their forcibly adapting the Hindu legends to their own, as they have done in so many other cases.52 The learning of the Hindus was, of course, inaccessible to the Greeks. They had, however, a great impression of their wisdom ; and some particulars of their philosophy, which have been handed down, are not unimportant. Megasthenes asserts that they agreed in many things with the Greeks ; that they thought the world had a beginning and will have an end, is round, and is pervaded by the God who made and governs it ; that all things rise from different origins, and the world from water ; that, besides the four elements, there is one of which the heavens and stars are made ; and that the world is the centre of the universe. He says they also agreed with the Greeks about the soul, and many other matters ; and composed many tales (fj,vdoi), like Plato, about the immortality of the soul, the judgment after death, and similar subjects.53 It is evident, from these early accounts, that if the Bramins learned their philosophy from the Greeks, it must have been before the time of Alexander ; and Onesicritus, whose conversations with them on philosophy have been already mentioned, expressly says that they inquired whether the Greeks ever held similar discourses, and makes it manifest that they were entirely unin- formed regarding the sciences and opinions of his countrymen. From the silence of the Greeks respecting Indian architecture we may infer that the part of the country which they visited was as destitute of fine temples as it is now. Their account of Indian music is as unfavourable as would be given by a modern European ; for although it is said that they were fond of singing and dancing, it is alleged, in another place, that they had no instru- ments but drums, cymbals, and castanets. The other arts of life seem to have been in the same state as at present. The kinds of grain reaped at each of their two harvests were the same as now ; sugar, cotton, spices, and perfumes were produced as at present ; and the mode of forming the fields into small beds to retain the water used in irrigation is described as similar.54 Chariots were drawn in war by horses, but on a march by oxen ; they were sometimes drawn by camels (which are now seldom applied to draught but in the desert). Elephant chariots were also kept as a piece of great magnificence. I have only heard of two in the present age. The modern mode of catching and training elephants, with all its ingenious contrivances, may be learned from Arrian65 almost as exactly as from the account of the modern practice in the " Asiatic Researches." K The brilliancy of their dyes is remarked on, as well as their skill in manu- factures and imitations of foreign objects.57 ** Asiatic Researches, vol. ix. p. 298. [This practice of stifling the victim was a Vedic cus- tom : cf. Weber, Indische Stud. ix. 223.— ED.] 82 The mention of the worship of Hercules at Methora may possibly refer to that of Crishna at Mattra. Strabo, lib. xv. p. 494, ed. 1587. 4 Ibid. lib. xv. pp. 476, 477. 5 Indica, chap. xiii. 8 Vol. iii. p. 229. 7 Strabo, lib. xv. p. 493. APPEND. Ill HABITS AND CUSTOMS 261 The use of copper vessels for all purposes was as general as it is now ; but brazen ones, which are now even more common, were avoided on account of their supposed brittleness. Royal roads are spoken of by Strabo 58 in one place, and milestones in another.59 Strabo expatiates on the magnificence of the Indian festivals. Elephants, adorned with gold and silver, moved forth in procession with chariots of four horses and carriages drawn by oxen ; well-appointed troops marched in their allotted place ; gilded vases, and basins of great size, were borne in state, with tables, thrones, goblets, and lavers, almost all set with emeralds, ber i. carbuncles, and other precious stones ; garments of various colours, ar. 1 embroidered with gold, added to the richness of the spectacle. Tame lions and panthers formed part of the show, to which singing birds, and others remarkable for their plumage, were also made to contribute, sitting on trees which were transported on large waggons, and increased the variety of the scene. This last custom survived in part, and perhaps still survives, in Bengal, where artificial trees and gardens, as they were called, not long ago formed part of the miptial processions.60 They are said to honour the memories of the dead, and to compose songs in their praise, but not to erect expensive tombs to them ; 61 a peculiarity which still prevails, notwithstanding the reverence paid to ancestors. The peculiar custom of building wooden houses near the rivers, which is noticed by Arrian,62 probably refers to the practice which still obtains on the Indus, where the floors are platforms raised twelve or fifteen feet from the ground, as well as on the Irawaddy, where almost all the houses of Rangoon seem to be similarly constructed. They never gave or took money in marriage ; 63 conforming, in that respect, both to the precepts of Menu and to the practice of modern times.64 The women were chaste, and the practice of self-immolation by widows was already introduced, but perhaps only partially, as Aristobulus speaks of it as one of the extraordinary local peculiarities which he heard of at Taxila.85 The practice of giving their daughters to the victor in prescribed trials of force and skill, which gives rise to several adventures in the Hindu heroic poems, is spoken of by Arrian66 as usual in common life. Their kings are represented as surrounded by numbers of female slaves, who not only attend them in their retired apartments, as in Menu, but accompany them on hunting parties, and are guarded from view by jealous precautions for keeping the public at a distance, like those well known among the Mahometans, and them only, by the name of kuruk. The ceremonial of the kings, however, had not the servility since introduced by the Mussulmans. It was the custom of the Indians to pray for the king, but not to prostrate themselves before him like the Persians.67 The dress of the Indians, as described by Arrian,68 is precisely that composed of two sheets of cotton cloth, which is still worn by the people of Bengal, and by strict Bramins everywhere. Earrings and ornamented slippers were also used, according to the fashion of the present day. Their clothes were generally white cotton, though often of a variety of bright colours and flowered patterns (chintz). They wore gold and jewels, and were very expensive in their dresses, though frugal in most other things.69 Pearls and precious stones were in common use among them. The great had umbrellas carried over them, as now. They dyed their beards, as they do now, with henna and indigo ; and mistakes in their mixture or time of application seem then, as now, to have occasionally made their beards green, blue, or purple. At present no colours are ever purposely produced but black and sometimes red. They dined separately, according to their present unsocial practice, each man cooking 58 Strabo, lib. xv. p. 474, ed. 1587. 88 Indica, cap. xvii. •'"•' Ibid. lib. xv. p. 487. 67 It is remarkable that in the Hindii dramas 60 Ibid. lib. xv. p. 494. there is not a trace of servility in the behaviour el Arrian's Indica, cap. x. of other characters to the king. Even now, 62 Ibid. cap. x. Hindii courts that have had little communication 8;t Ibid. cap. xvii. with Mussulmans are comparatively unassuming "* Megasthenes alone contradicts this account, in their etiquette. and says they bought their wives for a yoke of e8 Indica, cap. xvi. oxen. (Strabo, cap. xv. p. 488.) "' Strabo, lib. xv. pp. 181, iss. 65 Strabo, lib. xv. p. 491, ed. 1587. 262 BACTRIA his own dinner apart when he required it. They drank little fermented liquor, and what they did use was made from rice (arrack). The appearance of the Indians is well described, and (what is surprising, considering the limited knowledge of the Macedonians) the distinction between the inhabitants of the north and south is always adverted to. The southern Indians are said to be black, and not unlike Ethiopians, except for the absence of flat noses and curly hair ; the northern ones are fairer, and like Egyptians,70 — a resemblance which must strike every traveller from India on seeing the pictures in the tombs on the Nile. The Indians are described as swarthy, but very tall, handsome, light, and active.71 Their bravery is always spoken of as characteristic ; their superiority in war to other Asiatics is repeatedly asserted, and appears in more ways than one.72 They are said to be sober, moderate, peaceable ; good soldiers ; good farmers ; 73 remarkable for simplicity and integrity : so reasonable as never to have recourse to a lawsuit ; and so honest as neither to require locks to their doors nor writings to bind their agreements.74 Above all, it is said that no Indian was ever known to tell an untruth.75 We know, from the ancient writings of the Hindus themselves, that the alleged proofs of their confidence in each other are erroneous. The account of their veracity may safely be regarded as equally incorrect ; but the state- ment is still of great importance, since it shows what were the qualities of the Indians that made most impression on the Macedonians, and proves that their character must, since then, have undergone a total change. Strangers are now struck with the litigiousness and falsehood of the natives ; and, when they are incorrect in their accounts, it is always by exaggerating those defects. APPENDIX IV ON THE GREEK KINGDOM OF BACTRIA Accounts of the Ancients— B.C. 312 — B.C. 250 THE Greek kingdom of Bactria, as formerly known to us, had so little influence on India, that it would scarcely have deserved mention in the history of that country. Late discoveries have shown a more permanent connexion between it and India, and may throw light on relations as yet but little understood. But these discoveries still require the examination of antiquarians ; and a slight sketch of the results hitherto ascertained will be sufficient in this place. When Alexander retired from India, he left a detachment from his army in Bactria. After the first contest for the partition of his empire, that province fell to the lot of Seleucus, king of Syria. He marched in person to reduce the local governors into obedience, and afterwards went on to India, and made his treaty with Sandracottus.1 Bactria remained subject to his descendants, until their own civil wars and the impending revolt of the Parthians induced the governor of the province to assert his independence. Theodotus was the first king. He was succeeded by his son of the same name, who was deposed by Euthydemus, a native of Magnesia, in Asia Minor. By this time, the Seleucidse had consolidated their power ; and Antiochus the Great came with a large army to restore order in the eastern part of his dominions. He de- feated Euthydemus, but admitted him to terms ; and confirmed him in possession of the throne he had usurped. It does not seem probable that Euthydemus carried his arms to the south of the eastern Caucasus ; but his son, Demetrius, obtained possession of Arachosia and a large portion of Persia. 70 Arrian, Indica, cap. vi. : Strabo, lib. xv. 73 Ibid. lib. v. cap. xxv. p. 475, ed. 1587. •" Strabo, lib. xv. p. 488, ed. 1587. 71 Arrian, Indica, cap. xvii. "'• Arrian, Indica, cap. xii. 72 Arrian, Exped. Alexand., lib. v. cap. iv. ' See p. 151. APPEND. IV ZENITH OF THE BACTRIAN POWER 263 He also made conquests in India, and was in possession, not only of Lower Sind, but of the coast of India farther to the east. He seems, however, to have been excluded from Bactria, of which Eucratidas remained master. After the death of Euthydemus, Demetrius made an unsuccessful attempt to dispossess his rival ; and, in the end, lost all his Indian conquests, which were seized by Eucratidas. In the time of Eucratidas the Bactrian power was at its height. In the midst of his greatness he was assassinated by his own son, Eucratidas II. ; - and, during the reign of this prince, some of his western dominions were seized on by the Parthians, and Bactria itself by the Scythians ; 3 and nothing re- mained in his possession but the country on the south of the eastern Caucasus. The period of the reigns of Menander and Apollodotus, and the relation in which they stood to the Eucratidae, cannot be made out from the ancients. Menander made conquests in the north-west of India, and carried the Greek arms farther in that direction than any other monarch of the nation. The position of his conquests is shown in a passage of Strabo, that likewise contains all we know of the extent of the Bactrian kingdom. According to an ancient author there quoted, the Bactrians possessed the most conspicuous part of Ariana, and conquered more nations in India than even Alexander. In this last achievement the principal actor was Menander, who crossed the Hypanis towards the east, and went on as far as the Isamus. Between him and De- metrius, the son of Euthydemus (continues the same author), the Bactrians occupied not only Pattalene, but that part of the other coast which is called the kingdom of Tessariostus and the kingdom of Sigertes. The Hypanis mentioned in the beginning of the passage referred to is admitted to mean the Hyphasis ; but the Isamus is thought by some to be the Jumna river, by others the Himalaya mountains (sometimes called Imaus), and by others, again, a small river called Isa, which runs into the Ganges on the western side. Whichever is correct, the territory to the east of the Pan jab must have been a narrow strip. No mention is made of acquisitions towards the south ; and if any had been made in that direction as far as Delhi, or even Hastinapur. they would not have entirely escaped the notice even of Hindu authors. The south-western conquests extended to the Delta of the Indus (Pattalene being the country about Tatta) ; but whether the kingdom of Sigertes, on the other coast, was Cach or the peninsula of Guzerat we have no means of conjecturing. The author of the " Periplus " says that coins of Menander and Apollodotus were met with in his time at Baroch, which in the state of circulation of those days makes it probable that some of their territories were not very distant. On the west, " the most conspicuous part of Ariana," would certainly be Khorasan ; but they had probably lost some portion of that province before the Indian conquests attained the utmost limit.4 The above is the information we derive from ancient authors. It has been confirmed and greatly augmented by recent discoveries from coins. These increase the number of Greek kings from the eight above mentioned to eighteen ; and disclose new dynasties of other nations who succeeded each other on the extinction of the Greek monarchy. The subject first attracted notice in consequence of some coins obtained by Colonel Tod, and an interesting paper which he published regarding them in the first volume of the " Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society." It excited great attention on the Continent, and was zealously followed up in India by Professor Wilson and Mr. Prinsep. Professor Wilson has published an account of the coins of the Greek kings, and arranged them as far as our present knowledge permits ; but as they bear no dates either of time or place, the arrangement is necessarily incomplete.5 The coins of the kings already mentioned., down to Eucratidas I., are found on - [The name of the parricide is uncertain ; is a clear, concise sketch of Bactrian history from some suppose that he is the Heliocles of the coins. the same source in Clinton's Fasti lletlcnici, vol. On one of the coins of Bucratidas we find iii. p. 315, note x. [For Hindu notices, see Dr. Heliocles' head without a fillet on the reverse ; (loldstiicker's I'imini, p. 230, and Dr. Kern's which seems to indicate that he was associated Preface to Vardhamihira, pp. 35 — 39, cf. also in the government. — ED.] supra, p. 157. — ED.] 3 About 130 B.C. (Clinton's Fasti) ; 125 B.C. "' [In 1841 Professor Wilson published his (De Guignes). Ariana Antiqua, which contains a full account oC 4 The information to be found in ancient the Bactrian coins. See also Mr. H. T. Prinsep's authors is collected in Bayer's Bactria. There Note on Recent Discoveries in Afghanistan. — En. 264 EVIDENCE OF COINS the north of the eastern Caucasus. The inscriptions, the figures, the reverses, and the workmanship are pure Greek. From Eucratidas II., no coins are found on the northern side of the mountains ; and those found on the southern side assume a new form. They are often square, a shape of which there is no example in any other Grecian coinage, either European or Asiatic : they frequently bear two inscriptions, one in Greek and another in a barbaric character ; and, from the reign of Menander, they have occasionally an ele- phant or a bull with a hump • both animals peculiar to India, and indicative of an Indian dominion. The barbaric character has been but imperfectly deciphered, and has given rise to a good deal of discussion. It is certainly written from right to left ; a mode, as far as we know, peculiar to the languages of the Arab family : it may be assumed that it represents the language of the country, which it is natural to suppose would be Persian ; and these circumstances suggest Pehlevi as the language. This opinion, accordingly, has been maintained by some of those who have written on the subject ; but a close examination by Professor Wilson leads him to doubt the conclusion, though he has no theory of his own to support. Others, thinking that they discover words of Sanscrit origin in the inscriptions, belieye the language to be Zend, or else some of the dialects of India.6 Of this series of coins the first that attract notice are those of Menander. As they exhibit the title of Soter, which was adopted by the two Eucratidse, and as the devices on the reverses are the same as on the coin of these princes, it is a legitimate deduction that the king who struck them belonged to the same dynasty. The same argument extends to the coins of Apollodotus, who was perhaps the son of Menander. Two more kings, Diomedes and Hermaeus, have also the title of Soter, and may be presumed to belong to the same dynasty. The inferior execution of the coins of Hermaeus points him out as the latest of the series ; and it is his coins, also, that furnish the model for another description which it may be inferred came immediately after his time. These are of much ruder workmanship, and the inscriptions are an almost illegible Greek ; the names, also, are barbarous and uncouth, — Kadphises, Kanerkes, etc. These are conjectured, on very probable grounds, to be Scythians, and to have subjected the southern kingdom of the Bactrian Greeks about the beginning of the Christian era.7 Other coins are also found, resembling the last series, but perhaps connected with the Parthians rather than the Scythians. To complete the chronology, there are coins not yet examined, but ob- viously belonging to the Sassanians, who were in possession of Persia at the time of the Mahometan invasion. There is another class of coins, resembling, in many respects, those of the Eucratidso, and probably belonging to a series collateral with that of the Soters, but extending beyond the duration of that dynasty. Many of the names they bear are accompanied by epithets derived from Nike (victory) ; from which, and other points of resemblance, they are regarded as belonging to one dynasty. There is one more class, consisting of only two princes, Agathocles and Pantaleon. They are thought to be the latest of all the Greek coins, but are chiefly remarkable because they alone have their second inscriptions in the ancient character found on the caves and columns of India, and not in the one written from right to left. Some conclusions may be drawn from the situations in which the coins 6 [Besides the immense number of bilingual intermixed with those of Indian currency ; and coins, there are also some inscriptions in a similar we have in the inscriptions on the vases possibly character on vases, etc., found in topes. These a different dialect, sparingly intermingled with latter have been hitherto but imperfectly deci- words of Sanskrit origin." ( Ariana Ant., p. 260). phered, but the earlier series of coins presents few — ED.] difficulties, and the value of the letters has been 7 [The coins of the Greek princes are, with two clearly determined. " The language of the coins exceptions, of silver or copper ; those of the Indo- during the existence of the Greek princes and Scythian princes are exclusively of copper and their immediate successors was a vernacular gold. Gen. Cunningham has identified Kanerki dialect of Sanskrit, to all the varieties of which with the Kanishka of Cashmirian history and the the appellation Prakrit is applicable. With the Kia-ni-sse-kia of the Chinese traveller, in whose Indo-Scythian kings, words borrowed from Turk reign the third Buddhist council is said to have or other Asiatic dialects may possibly have been been held. — ED.] APPEND. IV DISAPPEARANCE OF THE GREEKS 265 have been discovered. Those of Menander are numerous in the country about Cabul, and also at Peshawer. One has been found as far east as Mattra on the Jumna. We may perhaps infer that his capital was situated in the tract first mentioned, and this would give ground for conjecturing the residence of the Soter dynasty. I do not know that there is any clue to that of the Nike kings. Professor Wilson conjectures Agathocles and Pantaleon to have reigned in the mountains about Chitral ; which, being the country of the Paropamisian Indians, may perhaps afford some explanation of the Indian character on their coins. The situation in which the Scythian coins are found is itself very remarkable ; and there are other circumstances which hold out a prospect of their throwing great light on Indian history. All the former coins, with the exception of some of those of Hermseus. have been purchased in the bazars, or picked up on or near the surface of the earth on the sites of old cities. But the Scj^thian coins are found in great numbers in a succession of monuments which are scattered over a tract extending eastward from the neighbourhood of Cabul, through the whole basin of the Cabul river, and across the northern part of the Panjab. These huge structures are the sort of solid cupola so common among the votaries of Buddha ; and, like the rest, contain each a relic of some holy person. No Greek coins are ever found in them, except those of Hermaeus ; but there are other coins, a few from remote countries, and the earliest yet discovered is one belonging to the second tri- umvirate. This coin must have been struck as late as the forty-third year before Christ ; but might easily have found its way to the frontiers of India before the final overthrow of the Greek kingdom, which all agree to have taken place about the beginning of the Christian era. These facts corroborate the conjectures of Do Guignes, drawn from Chinese annals, that the Greeks were driven out of Bactria, by the Tartar tribe of Su from the north of Transoxiana, 126 years before Christ ; and that their Indian kingdom was subverted about twenty-six years before Christ by the Yue-chi,8 who came from Persia, and spread themselves along a large portion of the course of the Indus. The Su have left no coins ; but it is natural to suppose that the Yue-chi, who came from Persia, would follow the example set by the Parthians, and would imitate the coinage of their Greek predecessors. This practice of the Indo-Scythians (whoever they were) was taken up by some dynasty of the Hindus ; for coins of the latter nation have been found bearing nearly the same relation to those of the Indo-Scythians that theirs did to the coins of the Greeks. We must not suppose that the Bactrian kingdom was composed of a great body of Greek colonists, such as existed in the west of Asia, or in the south of Italy. A very large proportion of Alexander's army latterly was composed of barbarians, disciplined and undisciplined. These would not be anxious to accompany him on his retreat ; and, on the other hand, we know that he was constrained to retrace his steps by the impatience of the Greeks and Mace- donians to return to their own country. From this we may conclude that a small part of those left behind were of the latter nations ; and, as Alexander encouraged his soldiers to take Persian wives (a course in itself indispensable to the settlers, from the absence of Greek women), it is evident that the second generation of Bactrians must have been much more Persian than Greek. Fresh importations of Greek adventurers would take place during the ascendency of the Seleucidse ; but, after the establishment of the Parthian power, all communication nuist necessarily have been cut off ; which explains the total silence of Greek authors regarding the later days of the Bactrian kingdom ; the degeneracy of the latter coinage is consistent with these facts, which also remove the difficulty of accounting for the disappearance of the Greeks after the overthrow of their southern kingdom. 8 De Guignes's account of the first conquest is, the other. [These Chinese dates are somewhat that the Su came from Ferghana, on the Jaxartes, uncertain; see Ariana Ant. pp. 300 — 306. and conquered a civilized nation, whose coin bore Strabo says that the Greeks in Bactria were a man on one side, and horsemen on the other. overthrown by the Asii, 1'usmni, Tokhari, and The coins of the Bucratidse have the king's head Sakarauli. — ED.] on one side, and Castor and Pollux, mounted, on 266 NOTES ON THE REVENUE SYSTEM APPENDIX V NOTES ON THE REVENUE SYSTEM (A) Traces of the lord of a thousand villages are found in different parts of the country, where particular families retain the name and part of the emolu- ments of their stations, but seldom or never exercise any of the powers.1 The next division is still universally recognized throughout India under the name of perganneh, although in many places the officers employed in it are only known by their enjoyment of hereditary lands or fees ; or, at most, by their being the depositaries of all registers and records connected with land. These districts are no longer uniformly composed of one hundred villages, if they ever were so in practice ; but, for the most part, are rather under that number, although in rare cases they depart from it very widely both in de- ficiency and excess. The duties of a chief of a perganneh, even in pure Hindu times, were prob- ably confined to the management of the police and revenue. He had under him an accountant or registrar, whose office, as well as his own, was hereditary, and who has retained his functions more extensively than his principal.2 Next below the perganneh is a division now only subsisting in name, and corresponding to Menu's lordship of ten or twenty towns ; 3 and the chain ends in individual villages.4 (B) Called patel in the Deckan and the west and centre of Hindostan ; mandel in Bengal ; and mokaddam in many other places, especially where there are or have lately been hereditary village landholders. (C) Patwari in Hindostan ; culcarni and carnam in the Deckan and south of India; tallati in Guzerat. (D) Pasban gorayet, peik, douraha, etc., in Hindostan ; mhar in the Deckan ; tillari in the south of India ; paggi in Guzerat. (E) Village landholders are distinctly recognized throughout the whole of the Bengal presidency, except in Bengal proper, and perhaps Rohilcand.5 They appear to subsist in part of Rajputana ; and perhaps did so, at no remote period, over the whole of it.6 They are very numerous in Guzerat, include more than half the cultivators of the Maratta country, and a very large portion of those of the Tamil country. There is good reason to think that they were once general in those countries where they are now only partially in existence, and perhaps in others where they are not now to be found. They are almost extinct in the country south of the Nerbadda, except in the parts just mentioned. In all the Madras presidency north of Madras itself ; in the Nizam's country, and most of that of Nagpur ; in great part of Khandesh and the east of the Maratta country, there is no class resembling them. This tract comprehends the greater part of the old divisions of Telingana, Orissa, and Canara ; but does not so closely coincide with their boundaries, as to give much reason for ascribing the absence of village landholders to any peculiarity in the ancient system of those countries. In Malwa, though so close to coun- tries where the village landholders are common, they do not seem now to be known. They are not mentioned in Sir John Malcolm's " Central India." (F) In Hindostan they are most commonly called village zemindars or 1 These are called sirdesmuks in the Deckan, 3 Called naikwari, tarref, etc., etc. in which and other southern parts of India the * For the accounts of these divisions and offi- territorial division of Menu is most entire. Their cers, see Malcolm's Malwa (vol. ii. p. 4) ; Stir- districts are called sircars or prants, and these ling's Orissa (Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. p. 226) ; are constantly recognized, even when the office Report from the Commissioner in the Deckan and is quite extinct. Their hereditary registrar, also, its enclosures (Selections, vol. iv. p. 161). is still to be found under the name of sir despandi. 5 Sir E. Colebrooke's Minute (Selections, vol. - The head perganneh officer was called des- iii. p. 165). muk or desai in the Deckan, and the registrar, 6 Col. Tod, vol. i. p. 495, and vol. despandi. In the north of India they are called 540. choudri and can6ng6. APPEND. V SUBDIVISION OF THE LAND 267 biswadars ; in Behar, maliks ; in Guzerat, patels ; and in the Deckan and south of India, mirassis or mirasdars. " The right of property in the land is unequivocally recognized in the present agricultural inhabitants by descent, purchase, or gift." 7 The right of the village landholders, to the extent stated in the text, is repeatedly alluded to in the published records of the Bengal government relating to the western provinces. Sir C. Metcalfe, though he contests the opinion that the right of property is full and absolute as in England, has no doubt about the persons in whom that right is vested. ' The only proprietors, generally speaking, are the village zemindars or biswadars. The pretensions of all others are primd facie doubtful." 8 For portions of the territory under the Madras presidency see the Proceedings of the Board of Revenue,9 and Mr. Ellis.10 Sir T. Munro,11 though he considers the advantages of mirasdars to have been greatly exaggerated and their land to be of little value, admits it to be saleable.12 For the Maratta country see Mr. Chaplin and the Reports of the collectors.13 Captain Robertson, one of the collectors, among other deeds of sale, gives one from some private villagers transferring their mirassi right to the Peshwa himself. He also gives a grant from a village community conferring the lands of an extinct family on the same prince for a sum of money, and guaranteeing him against the claims of the former proprietors. A very complete account of all the different tenures in the Maratta country, as well as of the district and village officers, with illustrations from personal inquiries, is given by Lieutenant- Colonel Sykes in the " Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society." u Care must be taken to distinguish miras in the sense now adverted to from lands held on other tenures ; for the word means hereditary property, and is, therefore, applied to rights of all descriptions which come under that denomination. (G) Mr. Fortescue (" Selections," vol. iii. pp. 403, 405, 408) ; Captain Robertson (Ibid. vol. iv. p. 153) ; Madras Board of Revenue (" Report of Select Committee of the House of Commons, 1832," vol. iii. p. 393) ; Governor of Bombay's Minute (Ibid. vol. iii. p. 637). (G) In making a partition of the land the landholders are taken by families, as has been explained of the village government ; btit in the case of land the principal family divisions are subdivided, and the subdivisions divided again according to the Hindu mode of dealing with inheritances.15 The lands of the village and other profits of the community are likewise formed into shares, sometimes corresponding exactly to the divisions, subdivisions, etc., of the families ; but more frequently reduced to small fractions, a proportionate number of which is assigned to each division, etc., so as ultimately to be distributed in due proportion to each individual.16 The public burdens are portioned exactly in the same manner, so that each division, subdivision, and individual knows its quota ; each, therefore, might manage its own agricultural and pecuniary affairs independently of the rest, and such is not unfrequently the case. In the Maratta country, for instance, although there are divisions with a joint responsibility among the members, yet they have no longer heads ; each " Fortescue, Selections, viii. p. 403. father's pane, which would give rise to four tholas 8 Minute of Sir C. Metcalfe, in the Report of the in each pane, and so on." (Mr. Fortescue, Select Committee of August, 1832, iii. p. 335. Selections, vol. iii. p. 405.) About Delhi, the 9 Report of the Select Committee of the House great division seems to be called pane, as above ; of Commons, 1832, iii. p. 392. but the commonest name in Hindostan is patti, 10 Ibid. p. 382. subdivided into thbcks, and they again into •l Minute of December 31, 1824. bheris. There are many other names, and even 12 Report of the Select Committee of the House these vary in the application ; a great division of Commons, 1832, p. 457. being in some places called a thbck, and a sub- 18 Selections, vol. iv. p. 474. division a patti. In Guzerat the great divisions 14 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 205, and vol. iii. p. 350. are called bagh, and the subdivisions patti ; " To explain the divisions of a village and another, and the commonest subdivision there, inheritable shares in it, suppose the ancient first is into annas, again subdivided into chawils. In proprietor or incumbent to have left, on his the Deckan the great divisions are called jattas, death, four sons ; each would inherit equally, and there are no subdivisions. and four panes would thus be erected ; on the ;B See table by Sir Edward Colebrooke, Selec- demise of each of those persons with four sons tions. vol. iii. p. 166. also each would be entitled to a quarter of his 268 THE RYOT individual manages his own concerns, and the headman of the village does all the rest. I do not advert to changes made in other parts of India which are depar- tures from the Hindu practice. (H) The following are the rights possessed in the immediate stages between a fixed rent and an honorary acknowledgment. The landholders are entitled to a deduction from the gross produce of the fields before dividing it with the government, and to fees on all the produce raised by persons not of their own class. This is called tunduwarum or swamibhogam (owner's share) in the Tamil country ; and malikana or zemindari rasum in Hindostan. In the latter country it usually forms part of the consolidated payment of 1.0 per cent, to the zemindars, which seems intended as a compensation for all general demands ; but not interfering with the rent of a landholder's lands where any such could be obtained. In some places,17 they have also fees from the non- agricultural inhabitants ; and, as they are everywhere proprietors of the site of the village, they can levy rent in money or service from any person who lives within their bounds. Where they have lost some of those rights by the encroachments of the government, they frequently have some consideration shown them in assessing their payment to the state, so as in some cases to admit of their getting rent for their land. In some places they are left their fees ; 18 and, where they are at the lowest, they have an exemption from certain taxes which are paid by all the rest of the inhabitants. The rights and immunities of the village landholders, as such, must not be confounded with those applied to mokad- dams, and other officers for the performance of certain duties. Though the same persons may hold both, they are in their nature quite distinct ; one being a proprietary right arising from an interest in the soil, and the other a mere remuneration for service, transferable along with the service from one person to another, at the pleasure of the employer. (I) The Arabic word ryot (pronounced reiat) means a subject, and is so employed in all Mahometan countries ; but in some of them it is also used in a more restricted sense. In India its secondary senses are, — 1. A person paying revenue. 2. A cultivator in general. 3. A tenant as explained in the text. In reference to the person of whom they hold their lands, ryots are called his assamis. (K) This class is called in the territory under Bengal khudkasht ryots, which name (as " khud " means "own," and " kashtan " to "cultivate") has been considered a proof that they are proprietors of the land. Ram Mohan Rai, however (an unexceptionable authority), explains it to mean " cultivators of the lands of their own village," 19 which seems the correct interpretation, as the term is always used in contradistinction to paikasht, or cultivators of another village. (L) It is in the Tamil country and in Guzerat that their rights seem best established. In the Tamil country they have an hereditary right of occupancy, subject to the payment of the demand of government and of the usual fees to the village landholder, which are fixed, and sometimes at no more than a pepper- corn ; but the tenant cannot sell, give away, or mortgage his rights, although in the circumstances described they must be nearly as valuable as those of the landholder himself.20 In Guzerat their tenure is nearly similar, except that it is clearly understood that their rent is to be raised in proportion to any increase to the government demand on the village landholder ; and it is probable that this understanding prevails in the Tamil country also, though not mentioned in the printed reports. In Hindostan there appears to be a 17 In Guzerat and in Hindostan. Also, see Commons, 1832, iii. p. 247.) an account of the village of Burleh, by Mr. 19 Report of the Select Committee of the House Cavendish (Report of the Select Committee of the of Commons, October 11, 1831, p. 716. House of Commons, 1832, iii. p. 246). 20 Mr. Ellis, Report of the Select Committee of 18 In part of Tamil, and in Hindostan, when the House of Commons, August 10, 1832, vol. iii. not superseded by the allowance of 10 per cent. p. 377 ; Board of Revenue, Minute of January 5, (See Report of the Select Committee of the House of 1818, p. 421. APPEND. V RIGHTS OF TENURE 269 feeling that they are entitled to hereditary occupancy, and that their rents ought not to be raised above those usual in the neighbourhood ; but the following summary will show how imperfect this right is thought to be. In 1818 a call was made by the Bengal government on the collectors of all its provinces not under the permanent settlement for information respecting the rights of the permanent ryots. Of fourteen collectors, eleven considered the landholder to be entitled to raise his rent at pleasure, and to oust his tenant whenever he could get better terms elsewhere ; two collectors (those of Etawa and Seharunpur) seem to have thought that the landlord's rent should not be raised unless there was an increase in the demand of government ; the collector of Bundelcand alone declared the khudkasht ryot's right to be as good as his of whom he holds. The members of the Revenue Commission, in forwarding these reports, gave their opinion that landholders conceive themselves to possess the power of ousting their tenants, although from the demand for ryots it is not frequently exercised. The government at that time doubted the correctness of these opinions, and called for further information ; which, although it threw much light on the question, did not materially alter the above conclusion. Mr. Fortescue, reporting on Delhi (where the rights of the permanent tenant seem better preserved than in any place under Bengal except Bundel- cand), says that the ancient and hereditary occupants cannot be dispossessed as " long as they discharge their portion of the public assessment." The minute raports on various villages in different colleetorships, abstracted by Mr. Holt Mackenzie,21 do not lead to a belief that the rents cannot be raised. Mr. Colebrooke states in a minute, which seems to have been written in 18 12,22 " that no rule of adjustment could be described (query, discovered ?) after the most patient inquiry by a very intelligent public officer ; and that the proceedings of the courts of justice in numerous other cases led to the same conclusion respecting the relative situation of ryots and zemindars." Mr. Ross, a judge of the Chief Court, likewise, in a very judicious minute of 22nd March, 1827,23 states that a fixed rate never was claimed by mere ryots, whether resident or non-resident, in the upper provinces ; inquires when such a fixed rent was in force ; and whether it was intended to remain fixed, however the value of the land might alter ? and concludes as follows : — " As to the custom of the country, it has always been opposed to such a privi- lege, it being notorious that the zemindars and other superior landholders have at all times been in the practice of extorting from their ryots as much as the latter can afford to pay." (M) Called in Hindostan, paikasht ; in Guzerat, ganwatti (leaseholder) ; in the Maratta country, upri ; and under Madras, paikari and paracudi. (N) They are called ashraf (well-born) in Hindostan, and pander pesha in some parts of the Deckan. (O) There is an acknowledged restriction on all permanent tenants, which prevents their cultivating any land within the village that does not belong to the landlord of whom they rent their fixed portion and their house ; but not only permanent tenants, but village landholders themselves, occasion- ally hold land as temporary tenants in other villages. In some parts of India the government levies a tax on the permanent tenants of land paying revenue who farm other lands from persons exempt from payment ; and in some, the government officer endeavours to prevent their withdrawing from their assessed lands in any circumstances. This last, however, is reckoned mere violence and oppression. (P) This system may be illustrated by the example of the petty state of Cach, which, being of recent formation, retains its original form unimpaired. " The whole revenue of this territory is under fifty lacs of cories (about sixteen lacs of rupees), and of this less than thirty lacs of cories belongs to the Rao ; the country which yields the remain'ng twenty lacs being assigned to the '•" Report of Select Committee of House of a" See vol. i. p. 262. Commons, 1832, vol. iii, p. 243. 'a Appendix to Report of 1832, p. 125. 270 INTERCHANGE OF LANDS collateral branches of his highness's family, each of whom received a certain appanage on the death of the Rao, from whom it is immediately descended. " The family of these chiefs is derived at a recent period from Tatta in Sind, and they all sprang from a common ancestor, Humeerjee, whose son, Rao Khengar, acquired the sovereignty of Cutch before the middle of the sixteenth century of our era. " The number of these chiefs is at present about 200, and the whole number of their tribe in Cutch is guessed at 10,000 or 12,000 persons. This tribe is called Jhareja. It is a branch of the Rajputs. The Rao's ordinary jurisdic- tion is confined to his own demesne, each Jhareja chief exercising unlimited authority within his lands. The Rao can call on the Jharejas to serve him in war ; but must furnish them with pay at a fixed rate while they are with his army. He is the guardian of the public peace, and as such chastises all robbers and other general enemies. It would seem that he ought likewise to repress private war, and to decide all disputes between chiefs ; but this prerogative, though constantly exerted, is not admitted without dispute. Each chief has a similar body of kinsmen, who possess shares of the original appanage of the family, and stand in the same relation of nominal dependence to him that he bears to the Rao. These kinsmen form what is called the bhyaud or brotherhood of the chiefs, and the chiefs themselves compose the bhyaud of the Rao." 24 The same practice, with some modifications, prevails through the whole of the Rajput country. * The territories allotted to feudatories in M£war (the first in rank of these states) was at one time more than three-fourths of the whole,25 and was in- creased by the improvidence of a more recent prince. (Q) It must have been some check on the spirit of independence, that until within less than two centuries of the present time it was usual for all the chiefs, in Mewar at least, periodically to interchange their lands ; a practice which must have tended to prevent their strengthening themselves in their posses- sions, either by forming connexions or erecting fortifications.26 The rapid increase of these appanages appears to have suggested to the governments the necessity of putting a limit to their encroachments on the remaining demesne. In Marwar, a few generations after the conquest, so little land was left for partition that some of the raja's sons were obliged to look to foreign conquests for an establishment : ** and in Mewar one set of descendants of early ranas seem to have been superseded, and probably in part dispossessed, by a more recent progeny.28 (R) The following remarks apply to both descriptions of military jagirs. Lands held for military service are subject to reliefs in the event of heredi- tary succession, and to still heavier fines when the heir is adoptive. They are subject to occasional contributions in cases of emergency. They cannot be sold or mortgaged for a longer period than that for which the assignment is made. Subinfeudations are uncommon except among the Rajputs, where they are universal. There was no limitation of service, and no extra payments for service, in the original scheme of these grants. Pecuniary payments at fixed rates in lieu of service, or rather on failure of service when called on, were common among the Marattas ; and arbitrary fines were levied on similar occasions by the Rajputs. "4 Minute on Cach, by the Governor of Bom- 2" Ibid. vol. i. p. 164, and note on 165. bay, dated January 26th, 1821. "' Ibid. vol. ii. p. 20. 'a Colonel Tod's Rdjasthdn, vol. i. p. 141. "* Ibid. vol. i. p. 186. APPEND. VII AREA AND POPULATION 271 AREA AND POPULATION OF INDIA (P. 3) [THORNTON (Gazetteer, 1862) gives the area and population of India as follows (excluding Arracan, the Tenasserim provinces, and Pegu) : — Area, sq. miles. Population. Bengal (including Assam). . . 188,782 40,549,569 N.W. Provinces . . . . 85,651 30,872,766 Saugor and Nerbadda territory . 17,543 2,143,599 Panjab 78,447 9,153,209 Cis-Sutlej territory .... 4,559 2,311,969 Nagpore . ... 76,432 4,650,000 Madras 132,090 22,301,697 Bombay 120,065 11,109,067 Native States 616,760 48,130,226 1,320,329 171,222,102 Elphinstone's statistics for Europe also need correction. Keith Johnston (in his Diet, of Geography, 1864) gives the estimated area of Europe as 3,768,000 square miles (of which the islands form one- twentieth), and the population as about 255 millions. He also gives the area of the Russian empire (including Poland and Finland), Sweden and Norway, as 2,351,266 square miles, with a population of 71,266,889. — ED.] APPENDIX VII ON THE VEDAS AND THE VAIDIK LITERATURE [THE Vedas are usually considered to be four ; but of these the fourth, or Atharva, is easily distinguished from the rest, as of later origin, not merely by the tradition of the Hindus themselves, but also by internal evidence, one of the principal proofs being found in the fact that whereas the Rig Veda hjinns continually refer to legendary characters of an earlier age, the seers or authors of these very hymns appear themselves to be the objects of this retrospective reverence in the Atharva.1 In the same way a careful analysis of the remaining three discloses a somewhat similar relation between the Rig Veda on the one hand and the Yajur and Sama Vedas on the other. The Rig consists entirely of hymns, but in the other two these hymns are found continually quoted, as parts of a complicated liturgical ceremonial ; in fact, the Yajur 2 and Sarna 3 presuppose the Rig as much as Maim's Institutes presuppose the entire Vaidik literature. Beside the Mantra portion, consisting properly of hymns, each Veda has another portion called B-rdhmana, which contains a mass of legends and tra- ditional explanations and glosses which were required to illustrate and enforce the various ceremonies and sacrifices. This portion is considered by Hindus as an equally eternal and essential part of the Veda with the Mantra portion ; Dr. Roth. Zur Lift, und Geschichte des Weda. real difference between the two ; while in the There are two recensions of the Yajur Veda, White Yajur they are quite different works, the older one, called the " black," from its con- Hindu tradition points to Yajnavalkya as the taining the hymns and liturgical portions mixed, " seer " of the White Yajur Veda, i.e. the sage and the later, called the " white," where the two to whom it was revealed. The Black Yajur "is are separated, the hymns being ranged together especially read in the Telegu country, in a Sanhita, and the rubrics and explanations * A very large portion of the contents of the forming the Satapatha Brahmana. The Brah- Sama hymns are mere quotations from various mana of the Black Yajur or Taittiriya Veda, is hymns of the Big Veda, arranged in a different only a continuation of the Sanhita — there is no order, and adapted for chanting. 272 THE MANTRAS both were " heard " by the fortunate sagos to whom they were revealed, and who taught them to their disciples ; but it is easy to see, by the continual references in the Brahmanas to the hymns and the frequent bare hints and allusions to their words and phrases, that the Mantras of the Rig Veda must have existed in an accepted arrangement before any one of the Brahmanas could have been composed. The same remark applies with still greater force to the so-called third portion of the Veda, the Upanishads. We are thus left to the Mantra portion of the Rig Veda as our earliest authority for the social and religious institutions of the Hindus. The Mantra portion of the Rig Veda consists of 1,017 hymns (beside eleven spurious ones called vdlakTiilyas}. These are divided into eight Ashtakas or ten Manrlalas, the latter being the preferable division, as it arranges the hymns of the different families together. There is no doubt a difference in age between the various hymns which are now united in their present form as the Sanhita of the Rig Veda ; but we have no data to determine their relative antiquity, and purely subjective criticism, apart from solid data, has so often failed in other instances, that we can trust but little to any of its inferences in such a recently opened field of research as Sanskrit literature.4 The still unsettled controversies about the Homeric poems may well warn us of being too confident in our judgments regarding the yet earlier hymns of the Rig Veda, so far removed as these latter are from all modern sentiment and sympathy. It is important to remember that the Yajur and Sarna Vedas are liturgical, — they are expressly arranged so as to contain the hymns and invocations respectively of the Adhwaryu and Udgatri priests, the former of whom had to perform the more servile functions in the sacrifice, and might only mutter their invocations, while the latter chanted as a kind of chorus. Besides these priests were the Hotris, whose duty was to recite certain hymns in a loud voice, and they were required to know the whole Rig Veda, and therefore had not, as the others, a special collection of their own hymns. The Rig Veda is, in fact, the Sanhita or collection for the Hotris.5 When we examine these hymns of the Rig Veda, we at once find that they represent an early stage of the worship of the great powers of Nature personi- fied ; and as such they are deeply interesting for the history of the human mind, belonging as they do to a much older phase than the poems of Homer or Hesiod. Their religion can in no sense be called monotheistic ; they consist of hymns addressed to different deities, more especially to Indra and Agni, with the surbodinate deities, the Maruts, or the winds, and the Adityas, who in later times were the various manifestations of the sun, but in the Veda wear a very obscure character. In a few places we find more mystical allusions, identifying all as ultimately one ; but this is by no means the general tone. Most of the hymns express the same partiality to their special deity and the same tendency to magnify his glory and power over the others which we find in other systems of polytheism. In the same way, though some of the hymns express moral ideas and spiritual hopes and desires, and occasionally rise to a high religious tone, the general strain is purely earthly — the only evils which are usually deprecated are sickness and outward enemies, and the only blessings sought are children and cattle. To compare them with the Psalms is, even from a purely literary point of view, impossible. The poetry of the Rig Veda is remarkably deficient in that simplicity and natural pathos or sublimity which we usually look for in the songs of an early period of civilization. The language and style of most of the hymns are sin- gularly artificial ; and indeed it has been made a question whether some of them were even meant to be intelligible to their first audience without an oral explanation of the obscure constructions and startling ellipses with which they abound. Occasionally we meet with fine outbursts of poetry, especially in the 1 We are too apt to forget that the study of work by Professor Bopp which raised the study Sanskrit is only coeval with this century. Not a of comparative philology into a science, fourth part of the Vaidik literature is as yet in 5 Beside these three classes of priests, there print, and very little of it has been translated was a fourth, called the Brahmans, whose duty into English. The present year (1866) is only the was to follow the whole sacrifice in their mind, fiftieth anniversary of the publication of that and to remedy any mistakes which might arise during its performance. APPEND. VII THE VAIDIK DEITIES 273 hymns addressed to the dawn, but these are never long sustained ; and as a rule we find few grand similes or metaphors. The peculiar characteristics of the later Hindu poetry are its intense love and appreciation of all the varieties of natural scenery, and its delicate delineation of human character ; but these are almost entirely wanting in the Rig Veda. But though it cannot claim a high place among the relics of the poetical genius of early times, the Rig Veda possesses an undying interest as the oldest monument of Gentile thought ; and we can undoubtedly trace there the fir.^t outlines of speculations of conceptions which afterwards branched out in widely different directions in the ancient world. But the especial object of the present Appendix is to treat of the Vedas as they throw light on ancient India, and for this purpose we may take the three Vedas and their Brahmanas as one body of Vaidik tradition, leaving the Upanishads, etc., to be discussed afterwards. In attempting to give any account of the Vaidik gods, we are continually baffled by the contradictory details in the different hymns, arising no doubt in part from the earlier or later date of their composition, but partly from the constant tendency of polytheism to magnify the deity of the moment at the expense of all the rest. Passing over the tempting speculations suggested by the division of the gods in one hymn (R.V. i. 27, 13) into " young " and " old" — if we confine ourselves to the facts presented by the hymns themselves, we find Indra and Agni the most prominent. The former is the deity of the visible firmament — the god of lightning arid rain. The phenomena of a tropical rainstorm are continually allegorised as a literal conflict between Tndra and the Asura Vritra ; and the same thing seems intended by the legends which represent him as recovering the cows which had been stolen by the Asura Pani. The offerings of soma juice are supposed to give him strength and courage for the encounter. Agni is generally represented as the priest who summons the gods to the sacrifice and bears the oblation to them ; he is also viewed as threefold — terrestrial, as vital warmth and culinary fire ; atmospherical, as lightning ; and celestial, as the sun and stars. The Sun is frequently addressed as a pre-eminent deity, and an early Hindu authority (Yaska) declares that these three are the only Vaidik deities, and he locates them respectively in the sky, earth, and heaven. This,, however, is not the natural inference from the hymns themselves. The Adityas are in the later mythology twelve, corre- sponding to the twelve months, but in the Rig Veda they appear to be seven, — Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Varan n, Daksha, Ansa, and Surya or Savitri, and their mother Aditi seems to represent Earth or Nature. Mitra and Varuna are the most important, not only from their greater prominence in the hymns, but also from the identification of the former with the Mithra of the Zend- avesta, and of the latter with the 'Ovpav6s of the Greeks. Mitra seems more connected with the day, and Varuna with the night ; and it is remarkable that it is in the hymns addressed to the latter that the moral element in the Veda is most usually found.6 Varuna is continually addressed as the remover of sickness and sin. Vayu, the Wind, is hardly to be distinguished from Indra, but the Maruts are very commonly represented as the latter's attendants. The two Aswins are frequently celebrated as percursors of the dawn, and as possessing the power of healing diseases. Rudra (who in the later mythology appears to be a form of Siva) in the Veda appears to be identified with Agni ; and Vishnu (far from being one of the supreme triad) seems only a form of the Sun, and his three steps (which in the Epic and Pauranik mythology are connected with the dwarf Avatar) are explained in the Veda, by the oldest commentaries, as either referring to Agni as terrestrial fire, lightning in the firmament, and the sun in heaven ; or to the position of the sun on the eastern mountain, in the meridian sky, and the western mountain — i.e. at his rising, culmination, and setting. Other deities are Twashtri, who is the architect of the gods and the former of all things ; Ushas, the Dawn (the name is probably 0 Thus the most deeply religious hymn in the May we here compare the ev&povr) and iepo. i/v£ whole Veda (Atharva V. iv. 16), is addressed to of the dreeks ? him. See Muir, Journ. R. A. 8., 1805, p. 81. 274 akin to T)&S and Aurora) ; and the Viswe devah or the various deities in their collective capacity. Mr. Elphinstone in his second book has shown the difference which exists between the religion of Manu's Institutes and that of the Puranas ; and the same remarks of course apply with still greater force to the Veda on which Manu is based. " The great feature of difference is the total absence of the divinities, both nomina and numina, who have for ages engaged, and to a great degree engrossed, the adoration of the Hindus. We have no indications of a triad, the creative, preserving, and destroying power ; Brahma does not appear as a deity, and Vishnu, although named, has nothing in common with the Vishnu of the Puranas ; no allusion occurs to his avataras. His mani- festation as Krishna, the favourite deity of the lower classes, for some centuries at least, does not appear. As a divinity Siva is not named ; nor is his type, the Linga, ever adverted to. Durga and her triumphs, and Kali, ' whom the blood of man delights a thousand years,' have no place whatever in the hymns of the Vedas." 7 We find, indeed, occasional hints, out of which the later legends may have grown ; thus the Dwarf Avatar of Vishnu, as mentioned above, has probably arisen from his " three steps " ; and Rudra, a form of fire, has easily developed into the later Siva. Perhaps the most curious in- stance of these mythological changes is that of the legend of Vritra. In the nature- worship of the Veda the phenomena of tropical storms are described as a conflict between Indra and the clouds, which are pierced by the thunder- bolt and forced to yield up their stores of rain. The clouds are personified as a demon called Vritra or Ahi, and though the language is often hyperbolical, the original meaning of the myth is seldom completely lost sight of. But in the later poems, as the Mahabharata and Puranas, the natural phenomenon is entirely forgotten, and Vritra is a literal king of the Asuras or Titans, who wages war against the gods. It is singular that even in the Brahmanas we find the myth becoming exaggerated ; and various legends are given, how Indra incurred the guilt of murder, etc.8 There are many similar instances of the misinterpretation of Vaidik legends and hymns by the authors of the Brahmaiias — a fact which proves that a considerable interval must have elapsed between the dates of their respective composition. The original worship described in the hymns of the Rig Veda seems to have been of a simple and patriarchal character. Sacrifices were occasionally offered, but the oblations are chiefly clarified butter poured on the fire, and the expressed juice of the soma plant. The ceremony takes place in the worshipper's house, in a chamber appropriated to the purpose. There is no mention of temples, and images are not alluded to. A pnrohita or domestic priest appears in the courts of several of the Vaidik kings, and perhaps every rich family may have similarly had its priest. But in some of the hymns we find traces of a much more elaborate ceremonial ; and sometimes as many as sixteen priests are mentioned as assisting in the rites. Now, in the Brahmanas and the later Sutra works, we see this development in its full details : and most of the rites described there are public sacrifices which would require the wealth of a chieftain to supply the requisite expense. It is quite true that these later rites are sometimes directly named in the Rig Veda itself, and there are many hymns which are called ddnastutis, and contain the praises of certain kings for their munificent gifts to the priests, which no doubt point to such public occasions. If criticism is ever able to settle the relative antiquity of the different parts of the Rig Veda, these scattered hints will no doubt be one of the most useful criteria.9 The sacrifice of the horse, which plays such an important part in later legend, is found in the Rig Veda ; two hymns of the second Ashtaka being addressed to the horse ; and full details are given in the Brahmanas and Sutras. *' As the solemnity appears in the Rig Veda it bears a less poetical, a more barbarous, character, and it may have been a relic of an ante-Vaidik period, imported from some foreign nation, possibly from Scythia, where animal 7 Wilson's Works, vol. v. p. 342. the word indraghdtaka, and made it mean " one 8 The most curious is that which relates how whose slayer is Indra," instead of " one who is the Twashtri, when Indra slew his son Viswariipa, slayer of Indra." Vritra was the son born by performed a sacrifice to obtain a son who should virtue of the rite, but unfortunately he was thus avenge his death. In uttering the mantra, in his doomed to be the victim instead of the avenger, haste he made a mistake in the accentuation of a See Muller's Ancient Sanskrit Lit., p. 484. APPEND. VII THE BRAHMANAS 275 victims, and especially horses, were commonly sacrificed ; the latter were also offered by the Massagetae to the sun, and in the second A^wamedhik hymn there are several indications that the victim was especially consecrated to the solar deity ; however this may be, the rite as it appears in the Rig Veda can scarcely be considered as constituting an integral element of the archaic system of Hindu worship, although its recognition at all is significant of extant barbarism." 10 The historical allusions in the Veda will be discussed in the next Appendix. It will suffice to mention here that though the Rig Veda occasionally names Brahmans and Kshatriyas, we have no allusion to the four casts except in the ninetieth hymn of the tenth Mandala, the language of which is evidently of a more modern style. In the Brahmanas, however, the system of cast is found fully established, and the four classes are repeatedly mentioned by name ; and their respective duties are laid down almost as peremptorily as in Manu's Institutes. The Brahmanas are the Talmud of the Hindus. They contain the details of the ceremonies, with long explanations of the origin and meaning of the rites employed ; and they abound with curious legends, divine and. human, to illustrate the importance of the different parts. Many of these legends are reproduced in the later classical literature, as that of Sunahsepha, who is sold by his father to be offered as a sacrifice instead of Rohita, Harischandra's son, who had been vowed by his father as an offering to Varuna ; this forms an episode in the Ramayana. 'Similarly the legend of Namuchi, whom Indra promised to harm neither by day nor by night, nor by any weapon wet or dry, but whom he afterwards killed at twilight with the foam of the sea, is given in the Mahabharata. A few of the legends are of wider than purely Indian interest ; thus the Satapatha Brahmana preserves the earliest Hindu account of the Deluge, where Manu alone is saved in a ship.11 As a general rule, how- ever, the contents of the Brahmanas are wearisome in the extreme ; gleams of beautiful thoughts occasionally break out, but these are few and far between, and no part of Hindu literature presents so little (apart from its scientific value) to interest the reader.12 The Brahmanical intellect in these productions (as compared with the manly strength of the Rig Veda hymns) seems like one of Gulliver's Struldbrugs living on a piteous wreck, smitten with palsy in the midst of its vigour. But the Brahmanical intellect, however debased for axtime by a meaningless ritualism, was still capable of a higher life, and in the Aranyakas and Upani- shads we find it awaking from its dream of endless ceremonies to grapple with the deepest problems of life and eternity. Childish and fantastic as these books appear, they are full of fine thoughts, and sometimes they show deep feeling : and no Hindu works have probably exercised a wider influence on the world. It is from these forlorn " guesses at truth," as from a fountain, that all those various rills of Pantheistic speculation have diverged, which, under different names, are so continually characterised as " Eastern philo- sophy." Thus the reader of the Upanishads soon recognizes familiar ideas in the speculations of the Phsedrus as well as in Empedocles or Pythagoras — in the Neo-platonism of the Alexandrian, as well as in the Gnostic, schools, although Plotinus aimed to emancipate Greek philosophy from the influence of the Oriental mind ; and the Cabala of the Jews and the Sufeyism of the Muharnmadans seem to be derived from the same source. We are too apt to look on the ancient world as a scene of stagnation where men's thoughts were as confined as their bodies ; as if the few who travelled in foreign coun- tries could not bring home and circulate there the ideas which they had learned abroad, and as if the few thinkers, groping in the darkness of Gentile specula- tion, were not eager to embrace any light which presented itself.13 The 10 Wilson, Rig Veda Trans, ii. Pref. Kaushitakins, two of the B,ig Veda schools or " Mr. Muir, in his Sanskrit Texts, vol. ii., has charanas. Bach of the Yajur Vedas has its own given an interesting history of the legend as it Brahmana : the Sama Veda has eight (including reappears in the Mahabharata and Puranas. It the Chhandogya Upanishda), the most important is remarkable that in the Brahmana the exit of of which is the Panchavinsa ; the Atharva \ r.i t Manu from the ship is connected with sacrifice has one, the Gopatha Brahmana. Many of the (Gen. viii. 20), and his daughter Ila, produced Brahmanas are lost. from the oblation, is the personified sacrifice. !3 Are not Simmias' words in the Phsedo, $ 12 We have two Brahmanas extant belonging xxxv., p. 85, indications of Plato's own feeling 'r to the Bag Veda, that of the Aitareyins and the 276 THE UPANISHADS spread of such a religion as Buddhism shows how men's minds were awake to new ideas, even though they came from foreign countries ; and why should the tradition of the Eastern origin of much of early Greek philosophy be incredible or oven improbable ? The Aranyakas are treatises which were to be read by the Brahmans in their third stage as Vdnaprasthas, and the name is derived from aranya, " a forest," i.e. that which is to be read in a forest. There are foiir extant, the Brihad, the Taittiriya, the Aitareya, and the Kaushitaki. The Upanishads are short treatises, which frequently form part of an Aranyaka ; but many of them are detached works ; a great number belong to the Atharva Veda, and two (the Isa and the Siva-sankalpa) are found in the Sanhita of the White Yajur Veda. Their number is uncertain, but the latest catalogue gives the names of 149.14 Many are very modern, but some are of very high antiquity. The later ones are sectarian in their character andxclosely connected with the Puranas and the exclusive worship of Vishnu or Siva. The word upanishad is denned by Hindu authors as that which destroys ignorance and thus produces liberation ; and from these treatises has been developed the Vedanta system of philosophy, which is considered by all orthodox Hindus as the Brahma jndna, or pure spiritual knowledge. The ceremonial observances of the Vaidik ritual (or Karma Kdnda) are necessary as a preliminary condition, in order to purify the mind and to prepare it for the proper reception of the sublime truths to be imparted ; and the other systems of philosophy may be relatively true, in regard to the student's degree of intellectual capacity ; but the only absolute truth is the Vedantic interpre- tation of the Upanishads. When we examine the older Upanishads, however, we are struck by one remarkable peculiarity — the total absence of any Brahmanical exclusiveness in their doctrine. They are evidently later than the older Sanhitas 15 and Brahmanas ; but they breathe an entirely different spirit, a freedom of thought unknown in any earlier work except the Rig Veda hymns themselves. The great teachers of this highest knowledge are not Brahmans but Kshatriyas, and Brahmans are continually represented as going to the great Kshatriya kings (especially Janaka of Videha), to become their pupils. The most re- markable of these passages is the following, in the Chhandogya Upanishad (v. 3). The Rishi Gautama sends his son to visit King Pravahaija, who pro- pounds certain hard questions relative to the future life. The son cannot answer them, and returns to ask his father, who is equally at a loss. Gautama then goes himself to the king, and begs to be instructed by him. The king complies with his wish, after first premising as follows : " This knowledge before thee never came to the Brahmans ; therefore, hitherto, in all worlds the right of teaching it has belonged exclusively to the Kshatriya cast." WThen we couple with this the remarkable fact that the Gayatri itself, the most sacred symbol in the universe, is a verse in a hymn by an author not a Brahman by birth, but a Kshatriya, who is represented in later legend as ex- torting his admission into the Brahman cast, we can hardly escape the inference that it was the Kshatriya mind which first followed out these bold speculations. The Brahmans, as far as we can see by the Brahmanas, became immersed in the trivialities of an unmeaning ritual — their philosophy, if such they had, was only the Purva Mimansa, where the grave problems of life and death are forgotten for elaborate discussions as to the number of jars of the baked flour- cake, or the exact order of the verses to be repeated at an offering ; and such laborious and aimless trifling could not co-exist with earnestness or deep speculation. Kshatriya thinkers arose to initiate a new movement in philo- sophy, just as a Kshatriya thinker initiated Buddhism, as a protest against the system of cast ; and the Brahmans were wise enough to adopt the new ideas and eventually to secure the monopoly of instruction therein to them- selves. That the Brahmans and Kshatriyas were not already so harmonious in the social world as they appear in the Institutes seems shown by such legends as those which describe the Brahman Rama Jamadagnya as having cleared the earth thrice seven times of the Kshatriya race and filled five large '* See Professor Max Muller's list in the Zeit- all hands to be much more modern than the rest, sohrift d. D.M.G. vol. xix. p. 137. See Miiller's Ancient Kansk. Lit., pp. 310-51. 16 The White Yajur Veda is acknowledged on APPEND. VII THE ATHARVA VEDA 277 lakes with their blood, and then again as himself worsted in the contest by the Kshatriya Rama, the son of Dasaratha ; and these vague hints in the Upanishads seem to show us that they were sometimes rivals in literature as well. The Upanishads are usually in the form of dialogue ; they are generally written in prose with occasional snatches of verse, but sometimes they are in verse altogether. They have no system or method ; the authors are poets, who throw out their unconnected and often contradictory rhapsodies on the impulse of the moment, and have no thought of harmonizing to-day's feelings with those of yesterday or to-morrow. The poet's imagination is ever at work, tracing out new resemblances on all sides ; and the ritual ceremonial as well as the order of nature is ransacked to supply analogies to the past and future history of the soul. Through them all runs an unmistakable spirit of Pantheism, often in its most offensive form, as avowedly over-riding all moral considerations ; and it is this which has produced the general impression that the religion of the Vedas is monotheistic. Men have judged from the Upani- shads and the few hymns of the Rig Veda which breathe a similar spirit. Of course these early speculations have no system, although later writers have strained their ingenuity to invent one. The Upanishads stand to the later Vedanta as the oracular denunciations of Heraclitus 6 a/coTeivos stand to the fully developed system of the Platonic philosophy. We have reserved the Atharva Veda to the end, because it is evidently dissociated from the other three in its matter and style as well as by the tra- dition of the Hindus themselves. Whether it belongs to the Brahmana or to the Upanishad period cannot be determined ; but probably much of the tenth mandala of the Rig Veda was composed about the same time. It consists of the magic songs of the Atharvans or the Atharvangirasas ; and is therefore chiefly composed of imprecations and deprecatory formulae. Mixed with these are occasional hymns of great beauty and even moral feeling ; thus one of its imprecations contains imbedded in it the grand verses to Varuna, de- scribing his omnipresence, already alluded to. Like the Rig Veda, it is a. collection of hymns, and not a body of liturgical forms ; and next to the Rig Veda and the Upanishads it is much the most interesting part of Vaidik litera- ture. Its Brahmana, the Gopatha, is exactly like other Brahmanas ; but it is peculiarly rich in Upaiiishads, as no less than fifty-two Upanishads (and among these, several, as the Mandukya and Prasna, which are considered of the highest importance by the Vedanta school) bear the name of the Atharva Veda.16 Connected with the Vaidik literature are the Kalpa-Sutras, which are practical manuals of the sacrificial and other rites, drawn up for the conve- nience of the priests, who would otherwise have had to search through the liturgical Sanhitas and Brahmanas for the disjecta membra of the different ceremonies. Thus there are the Kalpa-sutras for the Hotri priests by Aswalayana and Sankhayana — for the Adhwaryus by Apastarnba, Baudha- yana and Katyayana — and the Udgatris by Latyayana and Drahyayana. These Kalpa-sutras form the most important of the six Vedangas or " members of the Veda,," i.e. the six subjects whose study was necessary for the reading or proper sacrificial employment of the Veda. The other five are Siksha (pronunciation), Chhandas (metre), Vyakaraiia (grammar), Nirukta (explana- tion of words), and Jyotisha (astronomy).17 — ED.] 6 There is an interesting paper by Mr. Muir sions to a future state of punishment in the in the Journ. R. A. «S., vol. i., new series, on the Vaidik writings are few and obscure. There are doctrine of a future life according to the Vedas. very few passages in the Brahmanas which speak In the earlier books of the Rig V. there is little of anything like absorption in the deity, an idea reference to a future state, but in the ninth and which we find in so many of the Upanishads — tenth it is frequently mentioned. A state of in fact, the older works display nothing of that blessedness is distinctly promised to the virtu- discontent with existence which afterwards be- ous ; and these allusions are more full and came such a prominent feature of Hindu thought, frequent hi the Atharva. In some passages of 17 The reader desirous of pursuing the subject the latter the family ties of earth are represented of the Vedas further is referred to Professor Max as renewed in heaven. In the Rig Veda we have Muller's Ancient Sanskrit Literature, which con- no traces of the doctrine of transmigration, but tains a mine of most valuable information, and a passage in the Satapatha Br. describes how the is at the same time as interesting as a novel, various animals and plants in a future state would Professor Wilson's translation of the Rig Veda, devour those who had eaten them in the present and Mr- Muir's Sanskrit Texts, vols. iii. iv., are life, unless they were secured by the regular a*30 Ver7 important works, performance of sacrifices during life. The allu- 278 THE BRAHMANICAL TRIBES APPENDIX VIII (PP. 53, 54.) ON THE BRAHMANICAL TRIBES AND THE ABORIGINES [ELPHTNSTONE'S remarks on the relation of the original Hindu tribes to the other Indo-European nations and the aboriginal inhabitants of India, are hardly sufficient for the general reader at the present day ; and a short com- ment seems needed to complete the sketch of the subject. The fact of a connexion between the original Sanskrit-speaking tribes and the other nations of Western Asia and Europe, as proved by the common origin of their respective languages, is admitted by Elphiiistone. It is perhaps going too far to assert that this connexion is thus proved to be one of race ; at any rate, this is a question which belongs to physical science rather than to history. It is enough for the historian if it is granted that in some remote prehistoric time the ancestors of these various tribes were living in close political relation to each other ; and the similarity which we find in their languages must undoubtedly prove this, even although the question of race should remain as unsettled a problem as before. It was at first supposed that Sanskrit was the common mother of the other Indo-European languages ; but this is disproved, among other reasons, by the fact that some of the European languages (more especially Latin), preserve forms and roots which are lost even in the oldest Sanskrit of the Vaidik time. Thus the final s of the nominative singular is lost in all Sanskrit nouns ending in consonants, as in vdk (from vdch), and bhavan (the present participle of bhu, . 65 that Buddhism became one of the established religions of the empire. India was always regarded as the cradle of the Bauddha faith ; and when in process of time the purity of the Chinese branch degenerated, and divisions arose as to its doctrines and precepts, a succession of Chinese travellers made pilgrimages to India to procure copies of the sacred works and to gain fresh instruction from the fountain-head. Their accounts have only lately been rendered accessible to the European student by the labours of the late M. Abel Remusat and M. Stanislas Julien. They throw, for the fifth and seventh centuries of our era, the same side-light on the actual state of India which the Greek accounts throw for the third and fourth centuries B.C. ; and enable us to form an outline picture of a period which in India's own literature is almost as mythic and imaginary as the Satya Yug or the Mahabharata war. The earliest known Chinese traveller was Chi-tao-aii ; he came to India at the commencement of the foiirth century, but his work is lost. He was followed by Fa-hian, who travelled in Central Asia and India from A.D. 399 to 414. A century afterwards, two more, Hoei-seng and Song-yun, travelled some years in the north of India ; but their account is very brief. They were succeeded by Hiouen Thsatig, whose ample narrative is the subject of the present Appendix.1 His example was followed by some pilgrims in the eighth century and by Khinie, who visited India in 964 with three hundred ascetics, but these are of little interest. Fa-hian' s narrative was translated into French by M. Abel Renmsat and others in 1836, and an English version from the French was published by Mr. Laidlay in Calcutta, 1848. His book consists of forty short chapters, but the narrative is entirely confined to Buddhist details, and hence we do not gain much information from it regarding the condition of the Brahmanical popula- tion. He seldom mentions anything in any place which he visits beyond the Buddhist shrines which were the resort of pilgrims, and the legends with which they were associated. He seems to have passed through the territory of the Oigours, Khotan, Cabul. Udyana, and Gandhara, and he then describes his route in India. He mentions, among other places, Taksha&ilA (Taxila), Mathura, Sankasya, Kanouj (where he sees the Heng or Ganges), Kosala, 1 Hiouen Thsang gives an account of 138 kingdoms, of which he himself visited 110. 282 HIOUEN THSANG / Sravasti, Kapilavastu, and Vaisali. He next visits Magadha, with its capital Pataliputra ; and here the very number of sacred places mentioned makes it difficult to determine his route. We can trace him as visiting Nalanda, Rajagriha, Gridhrakuta, and Gaya : he then goes westward to Benares (where he particularly mentions the deer-park of Sariiath), and KauSambi. Fa-hian here devotes a short chapter to the kingdo?n of the Deckan (Tha thsen), and describes some cavern temples, which may perhaps be those of Ellora. He then returns from Benares to Pataliputra, where he spends three years in a monastery, " studying the books and the Fan language and copying the precepts." 2 He next goes down the Ganges to Champa and Tamralipti (Tamluk) ; at the latter place he remained two years, " transcribing the sacred books, and depicting the images." He thence sails to Ceylon, where he stayed two years, and collected several rare works in the Fan language ; he men- tions the honour paid there to Buddha's tooth, and describes Buddhism as flourishing in the highest degree. On his homeward voyage he visits Java ; " heretics and Brahmans were numerous there, and the law of Buddha in nowise entertained." Hiouen Thsang's book is a very different work, and its publication forms an era in the history of Indian research. The first of Julien's three volum contains the memoirs of Hiouen Thsang, as written by two of his disciples ; the other two give the ta-thang-si-yu-ki, or " memoires sur les contr6es occi- dentales," the original compilation of the pilgrim himself. Hiouen Thsang appears to have been an ardent student of Buddhist philosophy in several monasteries in China, until at last, in the year 629, when twenty-six years of age, he conceived the design of seeking in India the solution of the various doubts which perplexed his mind, and which none of the Chinese sages could resolve. He has to set out on his journey westward alone. He starts from the N.W. extremity of China, and pursues his adventurous route through the country of the Oi'gours, and other Tartar tribes ; thus ho mentions the kingdoms of O-ki-ni, and Kou-tche (Kharashar ?). At the latter place he stops sixty days, on account of the snow interrupting the roads ; and he thence goes to Pa-lou-kia, which seems to be the same as the modern, province of Aksu. In all these countries he finds Buddhism more or less prevalent. He then crosses the mountain Ling-chan (Musur Aola), which occupies more than a week ; here he loses several of his companions from hunger and cold, and many of the beasts of burden. He next skirts the shore of the lake Thsing-tchi (Issikul), and arrives at the city Sou-che, where he meets with the Turki-Khan ; he notices that his people were fire -worshippers. He then travels on to Tche-chi (Chash or Tashkend), crosses the Jaxartes, and visits Samarkand, which is entirely inhabited by fire-worshippers. He then proceeds through the pass called the " Iron Gates " (Derbend), enters the kingdom of Tukhara, and crosses the Oxus. He describes Tukhara as divided into twenty-seven states, " which, though to some extent independent, are generally subject to the Turks." Here he finds Buddhism held in respect, and still more so in Balkh, where there were 100 convents containing 3,000 monks. He next reaches Bamyan (where Buddhism is very flourishing), and crosses the Hindu Kush. He thence visits Kapisa (the Capissa of Pliny), which is under a Kshatriya king, to whom ten kingdoms are subject ; here he finds 100 convents with 6,000 monks, but also scores of temples and many sects of heretics, some of whom went about naked, others rubbed themselves with ashes or wore skulls as ornaments. Near the capital he passes, on a mountain called Pilusara, the first of the long series of Asoka's stupas or monuments erected over relics.3 On leaving Kapisa he crosses a mountain range to the east, and then enters Northern India.4 J He says that he had from the first inquired voured throughout Ms itinerary in India to give for the precepts, but all the masters of the king- the native names as far as the peculiar syllabic doms in the north had transmitted these from structure of the Chinese language admitted. M. mouth to mouth, without ever reducing the Julien has discovered a method for detecting the volume to writing ; on this account he had come Sanskrit names and words under their Chinese so far and reached mid-India. disguises, and we can thus recover with certainty 3 He is said to have erected in different parts of the Sanskrit equivalent in nearly every instance. India 84,000 such monuments. Hiouen Thsang Thus Ti-po-ta-to represents Devadatta, and finds them everywhere. Tou-ho-lo, Tukhara. We shall give some more 4 Hiouen Thsang knew Sanskrit, and endea- examples further on, APPEND. IX HIS PILGRIMAGE 283 He first visits Lampa or Lamghan, " north of which," it is said, " the frontier countries are called Mie-li-tche (Mlechchhas) " ; then he comes to Nagarahara, where, to the south-west of the city, there was a cave in which Buddha was said to have left his shadow. Here the disciples, in their memoirs, indulge their imagination, and describe their master as extorting, by his prayers, such a clear vision of the sacred symbol, as had been rarely conceded to any man ; but Hiouen Thsang himself only remarks that " in old times the appearance was seen as luminous as if it were Buddha himself, but in these later ages one no longer sees it completely ; something is, indeed, perceived, but it is only a feeble and doubtful resemblance." 5 South-east of this lay Gandhara, with its capital, Purushapura, at this time subject to KapiSa. He describes the inhabitants as effeminate, but greatly devoted to literature ; and he mentions it as the birthplace of many Indian doctors, who have com- posed (Buddhist) Sastras. He found its 1,000 convents and numerous stupas deserted and in ruins ; there were 100 temples and heretics of all sorts in abundance. There were several monuments of the great kings A6oka and Kanishka ; and he also expressly mentions a temple sacred to Maheswara, as well as a celebrated statue of his wife, the goddess Pi-mo (Bhimd), in blue stone. In his account of the city Salatura, he gives a curious legend about Panini, and describes his grammar as still studied by the Brahmans of the place. He thence visited Udyana, to the north, but most of its 1,400 convents were in ruins. Next he went to Bolor, and thence turned southward to Takshasila (which formerly belonged to Kapisa, but was then subject to Cashmir), Sinhapura, Urasi, and Cashmir. The latter country he found under the dominion of the Ki-li-to (Kritiya) dynasty, which patronised the Brah- manical faith ; but there were many learned Buddhists in the various con- vents, and our traveller stayed there two years copying and studying the sacred books. He then visits Panch and Rajapura, and remarks that all the countries from Lamghan to this last place are more or less barbarous, and do not properly belong to India.6 Hiouen Thsang thence goes southward to Cheka, where he sees the ruins of the ancient city Sakala (the Sagala or Sangala of the Greeks), Chinapati, where he remains studying fourteen months, — Jalandhara, where he remains four months, — and Kuluta (where he crosses the Satlaj). He next proceeds southward to a country called Po-li-ye-to-lo, which appears to be the Matsya district of Manu, as this is explained by Kulluka as Virata, which has been supposed to be Macheri or Jaipur. Hiouen Thsang describes the inhabitants as averse to letters, and devoted to heretical doctrines and war.7 He next comes to Mathura (Mattra),8 and here his narrative throws great light on the political condition of the Doab in the seventh century. He visits and describes Tanesar, with its 3 convents, its 100 temples, and swarms of heretics9 — Srughna (?), with its ruined capital (here he finds 5 convents and 100 temples, and remains studying with a renowned doctor some months) — Matipura (?), on the Ganges, where the Buddhist and Brahmanical faiths have an equal number of adherents, and the king is a Sudra, but does not follow the law of Buddha, — Brahmapura (?), — Ahichchhattra (the 'Adiaddpa of Ptolemy), — and Sankasya,10 the old city mentioned in the Ramayana, and which General Cunningham discovered in the ruins near the present village of Samkassa. General Cunningham found a tank there, where a Naga is still propitiated by offerings of milk whenever rain is wanted, just as it was in A.D. 400, when Fa-hian visited the spot. 5 Similarly, in vol. i. p. 286, Hiouen Thsang s He finds at Mathura 20 convents, with 2,000 mentions another place where Buddha had left monks, and 5 temples. As Fa-hian had found 20 his shadow ; but he adds, " although this is convents with 3,000 monks, and Mahmud in his related in the historical memoirs, nowadays letter (see supra, p. 325) speaks of innumerable absolutely nothing is to be seen." temples, we can distinctly trace the gradual de- 6 Hiouen Thsang's itinerary has been ad- cline of Buddhism and revival of Brahmanism mirably illustrated by M. L. Vivien de Saint between the fifth and seventh centuries. Martin in his Memoire Analytique appended to B Near Tanesar he sees Kurukshetra, the old M. Julien's second volume of the Si-yu-ki. For battle-field of the MahabMrata war, and he gives Northern India we have an invaluable supple- a curiously distorted version of the tradition, ment in General Cunningham's report of his *° Hiouen Thsang calls it Kie-pi-tha, but his Archaeological Surveys, in 1861-63, published in account of the temple with Buddha's triple ladder the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. identifies it with Fa-hian's Seng-kia-shi. It was 7 Cf. supra, p. 27, note. a very celebrated place of Buddhist pilgrimage, 284 PRAYAGA The next place visited was Kanyakubja, — he describes its capital as 20 li u in length and 5 in breadth. Its king, Harsha-vardhana, was of the Vaisya cast ; he had succeeded his elder brother Rajyavardhana, who had been treacherously killed by Sasanka, an anti-Buddhist king in eastern India, and on his accession had assumed the name of Siladitya.12 The new king had estab- lished his supremacy over all India, and was a most zealous patron of Budd- hism. There were 100 convents and 10,000 monks ; and also 200 temples of the Brahmans. He describes the kingdom as wealthy and full of foreign merchandise — " the cities are all defended by solid walls and deep ditches." He next went to O-yu-to (which is supposed to have been some capital of Ayodhya on the Ganges) ; here he found 100 convents and only 10 temples. He then goes down to the river to Hayamukha (?), — on his voyage, his ship is attacked by robbers devoted to the goddess Durga, who have an annual custom of sacrificing one of their captives, and they fix on the Chinese pilgrim as their victim. The memoirs expatiate on his calmness amidst his terrified com- panions— he resigns himself to his fate, and only regrets that the premature termination of his journey will issue in future evil to his captors ; but a sudden storm alarms the robbers, and they release him with his friends. He next visits Prayaga, at the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna — here he finds only two small convents — " there are many hundreds of temples and the number of heretics is enormous." He expressly mentions one very celebrated temple of immense wealth and sanctity with a large tree in its principal court, from whose top pilgrims used to throw themselves down in order to die in such a sacred spot ; 13 he also mentions the custom of devotees drowning themselves at the point of confluence. South-west of Prayaga there was a dense forest infested with wild beasts and elephants. He next visits Kau^ambi, where he finds 10 convents in ruins, and 50 flourishing temples. He next turns northward to Vaisakha (?), which General Cunningham identifies with the Hindu Saketa or the ancient Ayodhya on the river Sarayu ; and thence to Sravasti. He describes the capital of the latter kingdom as in ruins and almost deserted ; there were many ruined convents, but the Brah- manical temples seem to have been numerous and frequented.14 Thence he goes to Kapilavastu, — " here there are 10 deserted towns, and the royal city is in ruins ; the palace, in the middle of the capital, was once 14 or 15 li in circumference, and was entirely built of bricks — its ruins are still lofty and solid, but it has been deserted for ages. The villages are thinly peopled — there is no king — every town has its own chief. There was once about 1,000 convents the ruins of which still remain." The various spots f we re still pointed out which were associated with the memorable events in Sakya Muni's life, and on most of them vihdraa had been erected. He next goes eastward through a dense forest to Ramagrama, which was then only a desert — it abounded with the ruins of convents and stupas, but most of the country was covered with forests full of wild beasts and robbers ; and the same desola- tion prevailed in Kusinagara, the celebrated spot where Sakya Muni entered into nirvana.15 Hiouen Thsang then turns to the south-west, and, after passing through a vast forest, reaches Benares. He describes the kingdom as thickly filled with populous villages — the majority of the inhabitants believed heretical doctrines, and there were few who revered the law of Buddha. There were 30 convents with about 3,000 monks, and 100 temples and 10,000 heretics, devoted for the most part to Maheswara. " Some cut their hair, others leave a tuft on the top of the head and go about quite naked (the Nirgranthas), others rub their bodies with ashes (the Pasupatas), and zealously practise painful penances to escape from life 1 1 5 li are said to be rather more than one mile. khab ut Tawarikh, mentions the same practice 12 Some of these facts have been remarkably as still prevalent in Akber's time. See Gen. illustrated and confirmed by Dr. Hall, from the Cunningham's Report (Journ. B.A.S. 1865). recently discovered work of Bana, the Harsha- >« Qen. Cunningham identifies Sravasti with ctentra. See his analysis in the Preface to his the mined city on the Bapti, still called Sahet- edition of the Vasavadatta, and also Journ. -*m. j. A * j.- • -\/TJL ju; v. R A S 1862 It is siid (Vip £ ff r n 9 1 to make her partiality more degrading, was an Abyssinian slave. It does not appear that her fondness was criminal, since the greatest breach of decorum alleged against her was her allowing the Abyssinian to lift her on her horse. It was, however, imprudent in the highest degree ; for, by raising her favourite to the office of Amir al Omara,9 which gave him rank over all other courtiers, she at once disgusted her nobility and furnished them with a plausible ground for exciting a clamour against her. The first who openly rebelled was a Turki chief called Altunia. The queen immediately marched against his fort of Batinda ; but her army mutinied, her favourite was killed in a tumult, and she herself, being made prisoner, was consigned to Altunia, as the safest hands in which she could be placed ; while her brother Behram was raised to the vacant throne. Rezia, when force failed her, had again recourse to art : and she so far gained over Altunia, by the influence of love or of ambition, that he agreed to marry her, and to assert her rights against his former confederates. Aided by her new consort, the queen assembled an army, and advanced to Delhi ; and it was not till after two bloody battles that she was made prisoner along with her husband, and both were put to death. Her reign lasted for three years and six months. 8 " She discarded her female ap- Elliot's Historians, vol. i. p. 283.) — parel and veil, wore a tunic and cap ED.] like a man, gave public audience, and 9 Literally, " Commander of Com- rode on an elephant without any manders " ; that is, General-in-Chief, attempt at concealment." (Sir H. VI. 1 NASIR UD DIN MAHMUD 369 Moizz ltd din Behrdm The new king endeavoured, by treachery and assassination, to rid himself of the nobles who, for their own purposes, had raised him to the throne. Before he had attained his end, his dominions were invaded by a body of Moguls, who pene- trated to Lahor ; and the assemblage of troops which followed led to new plots and seditions, which ended in his imprisonment and death, after he had reigned two years and two months. Aid ud din Masaud The reign of the next sultan, a son of Rukn ud din, was a repetition of the same scenes, increased by the cruelty and licentiousness of the king, until, at the end of little more than two years, he was deposed and put to death. The only remarkable events of his reign were two irruptions of the Moguls : the first through Tibet into Bengal,10 the only one recorded from that quarter during the period of authentic history ; and the other by a division of the army of Mangu Khan into the north-western part of the kingdom. The first of these invasions was defeated by the local officers : the second advanced no farther than Uch, on the joint rivers of the Panjab to the south of Multan. Ndsir yd din Mahmud The twenty years' reign of Nasir ud din was full of distur- bances, foreign and domestic, though none sufficient to overturn the government. He was the grandson " of Al tarnish, had been imprisoned immediately after that prince's death, and, though he had been for some time released and intrusted with a government, he retained the retired and studious habits of his youth. He reposed with entire confidence on the conduct of his vazir, whose name was Ghiyas ud din Balban. This minister was a Turki slave of Altamish, and had been honoured by that monarch with the hand of one of his daughters, the aunt of the reigning king. The great danger was now from the Moguls, who were in possession of all the countries west of the Indus. To guard against it, Balban formed the frontier provinces into one great government, at the head of which he placed his relation, Shir Khan, who, like himself, had been a slave. He then advised 10 [For the history of this error, p. 121, Chengiz Khan has been sub- which appears to have arisen from stituted for Jajnagar.— ED.] the mistranscription of the original u [His father had died, while text of the Tabakat-i-Nasari, see governor of Behar and Bengal. — ED.] Thomas, Chronicle of Pathdn Kings, B B 370 REBELLION A.D. 1247, A.H. 646 the king to proceed in person to the Pan jab. While in that province he severely chastised the Gakkars, for their co- operation with the Moguls in their inroads, and compelled the jagirdars,12 who had long neglected their duty, to furnish their contingents with regularity. He next turned his arms against different Hindu rajas, whom the weakness of the preceding reigns had tempted to revolt. In the first campaign he restored the royal authority in the country on both sides of the Jumna, from opposite Delhi to Calinjer in Bundelcand ; and in the three following years he settled the hilly country of Mewat, extending from near Delhi to the Chambal, the neighbouring territory of Rintambor, and the more remote one of Chitor. He afterwards took the strong fort of Narwar, in Bundelcand, reduced Chan- deri, and recovered all the revolted part of Malwa. In an interval of these expeditions he quelled a rebellion of the governor of Uch ; and during the same period, Shir Khan, governor of the Pan jab, not only kept the Moguls out of his province, but invaded their territory and took possession of Ghazni. During most of these operations the king accompanied the army, and was the ostensible author of all its success. He nevertheless began to feel uneasy in the secondary place which he really occupied, and was induced by the insinuations of Imad ud din, an artful courtier, who had risen by the favour of the vazir, to remove that minister from his post, and to confer it on his secret accuser. All the vazir 's immediate adherents were soon after dis- placed ; and the misgovernment which followed created extensive discontents, and afforded a pretext to ten governors of provinces, who probably were in league with Ghiyas, to unite their troops, and address a remonstrance to the king, followed up by a demand, in respectful but firm terms, for the dismission of the new minister. No mention was made of the displaced vazir, but the object of the confederacy was obvious ; and, as resistance would have been hopeless, the king recalled Ghiyas ud din, who thenceforth was the real head of the government. Imad ud din now raised a rebellion, in which he involved a relation of the king's ; and although he was himself soon taken and put to death, yet a confederacy had been formed, including the Hindu raja of a place called Satnur, and the king's governor of Sind. This rebellion was not entirely quelled till the end of the second year. During the same time another Mogul attack on the Pan jab 12 Holders of land on military service. See page 80. VI. 1 A GENTLE KING 371 was repelled, and an expedition was afterwards undertaken against the revolted governor of Karrah Manikpur. A more difficult task was to put down the inhabitants of Mewat. The vazir went against them, and it was not without great exertion and some danger that he vanquished them in battle, and ultimately reduced their country. Ten thousand of the insurgents are said to have been slain. The fierce and tur- bulent mountaineers of Mewat, though their frontier was within twenty-five miles of Delhi, were never entirely quieted until the establishment of the British government. The last event of the reign was the arrival of an ambassador from Hulaku Khan,13 grandson of Chengiz Khan, and himself a very powerful monarch. Every exertion was made to give him an honourable reception, and the splendour of the court is described as worthy of the best days of the monarchy. No other occurrence is recorded until the death of the king, in February, 1266. Nasir ud din's private life was that of a dervise. He defrayed all his personal expenses by copying books : his fare was of the humblest description, and was cooked by the queen, to whom he allowed no female servant ; he had onlv one wife, «/ and no concubines. He was an eminent patron of Persian literature. The " Tabakati Nasiri," a general history of Persia and India, which still retains the highest celebrity, was written at his court, and takes its name from him. An instance is told of his temper and courtesy. On showing one of the books he had transcribed to a nobleman of his court, the nobleman pointed out several mistakes, which the king immediately corrected. When the nobleman was gone, he was observed to erase the corrections and restore the old reading ; and when asked his reason, he said he knew that the copy was right all the time, but thought it better to make the corrections than to hurt the feelings of a well-intentioned adviser. Ghiyds wl din Balban 14 Balban, being already in possession of all the powers of king, found no difficulty in assuming the title. He had been brought up from infancy at the court of Alta- mish, and had taken an active part in all the intrigues and revolutions of the succeeding reigns. During the life of Altamish, he had entered into a covenant for mutual support 13 [He was the son of Tuli Khan, abolished the Khalifate, putting the and brother of Mangu Khan. He last khalif to death. — ED.] sacked Baghdad in A.D. 1258, and u Often called Balin by English writers. 372 BALBAN A.D. 1266, A.H. 664 with forty of the king's other slaves, most of whom had attained to high stations. Having gained his own object, he desired to put an end to a system which would have endangered the succession of his family. He therefore, on various pretexts, made away with his surviving confederates (some of them his own near connexions by marriage), and he henceforth made it an invariable rule to confer no office but on men of family. So ostentatiously did he exercise his new policy, that he affected a repugnance even to ordinary intercourse with people of low origin. He also made it a rule to exclude Hindus from all offices of trust. All his other acts partook of the same contracted spirit. He established laws for the preservation of game round his capital ; and having exceeded in wine in his early life, he severely punished even the moderate use of it after he had reformed. In cases of rebellion, not satisfied with chastising the leaders, as had been usual, he extended capital punishment to the meanest of their vassals and retainers. Stories are told of his inflexible justice ; but they consist in publicly whipping governors of provinces, and sometimes having them beaten to death in his presence. This narrow-minded and selfish tyrant was raised, by circumstances, to the appearance of a liberal and enlightened monarch. The horrors of the Mogul invasion drove men of eminence from the countries to which it extended ; and Balban's being the only Mahometan government that was not subverted, his court was filled with illustrious exiles of that religion. He used to boast that no less than fifteen sovereign princes had been dependent on his hospitality : he gave the names of their territories to the streets which they inhabited, and his capital long preserved those memorials of Rum, Ghor, Kharizm, Baghdad, and other kingdoms. The number of literary fugitives was naturally still more considerable ; and as the king's eldest son, Prince Mohammed, was a young man of the greatest accomplishments, his palace was the resort of all the famous authors of that age. The chief, among many names well known in Persian literature, was the poet Amir Khusrou, on the possession of whose society the prince was congratulated by Sadi,15 who sent him a copy of his works, and regretted that his extreme old age prevented his accepting an invitation to Delhi. Balban himself had a turn for pomp and magnificence, so that his court was sur- rounded by an external splendour which blinded strangers to its real character. He was disturbed by Hindu insurrections on the banks of the Jumna and Ganges, as well as in the mountains of Jud and 16 The celebrated moral poet ; perhaps the best author Persia ever produced. VI. 1 REBELLION IN BENGAL 373 Mewat. They were created by banditti for the sake of plunder : and here his exterminating system, backed by the erection of garrisons and other prudent precautions, seems to have operated effectually. In Mewat he is said to have put 100,000 persons to the sword, but he also cut down the forest over a great extent of country ; and from that time it afforded support to the husbandman, instead of an asylum to the robber. His only serious rebellion was in Bengal. The governor, Tughral, having made a successful expedition against Jajnagar beyond the river Megna,16 he refused to send any portion of the booty to Delhi, and soon after assumed the title of king. He totally defeated the first army sent against him, on which the king hanged the unsuccessful general. Another army having been routed in spite of this severity, he at length moved in person to put down the rebellion. He acted on this occasion with the vigour and ability in which he never was deficient : he set out without waiting till the end of the periodical rains, marched straight to Sunargong 17 (or Sundergong), then capital of the eastern district of Bengal, and struck such terror into the rebel that he evacuated the open country, and with- drew, with a strong body of troops, into the forests. His retreat was discovered by one of the king's chiefs, who came unex- pectedly on the camp, and, though at the head of only forty men, took the desperate resolution of entering it in open day. His small troop advanced without attracting observation till they reached Tughral's tent, when they rushed on with loud shouts. Tughral and those around him fled with pre- cipitation, imagining the whole of the royal army was upon them : the panic spread to the troops — the whole dispersed in confusion, and Tughral himself was overtaken and slain as he was endeavouring to swim his horse over a river, on his flight towards Jajnagar. The king punished this rebellion with more than his usual severity, and was only prevented going on with his executions, after he had returned to his capital, by the intercession of the Cazis, Muftis, and other learned and venerable men. Not long after this he had the misfortune to lose his eldest son, a calamity to his people no less than to himself. The prince's death was worthy of the high character he had acquired. An army of Moguls belonging to Arghun Khan,18 then king of Persia, had invaded the Pan jab, and Prince 8 Now Tipperah. (Hamilton's 17 It has since been swept away by Hindostan, vol. i. p. 178.) Jajnagar the Ganges. (Buchanan, quoted by has been taken for Jaj pur in Cattack, Hamilton, Hindostan, vol. i. p. 187.) which never was the head place of a 18 [The grandson of Hulaku Khan, district. (See Mr. Stirling, Asiatic — ED.] Researches, vol. xv. p. 274.) 374 KEI KOBAD A.D. 1286, A.H. 685 Mohammed, who was governor of the province, hastened thither from the capital, where he had gone to meet his father. He defeated the invaders, and had recovered all the country they had overrun, when a fresh army arrived of chosen troops under a celebrated general named Timur Khan. A sanguinary conflict took place, and the prince gained a complete victory ; but was killed by a body of the enemy, who had kept together during the pursuit. Amir Khusrou, the poet, his constant companion, was taken prisoner on the same occasion.19 This loss drew tears from the meanest soldier in the army, and touched the heart even of Balban. That monarch had now reached his eightieth year, and was fast sinking under the affliction that had fallen on him, when he summoned his second son, Bakarra Khan,20 to attend him on his deathbed. His son, finding him in less immediate danger than he ex- pected, returned without leave to his province of Bengal ; and Balban was so much offended that he sent for Kei Khusrou, the son of Prince Mohammed, and immediately declared him his heir. Soon after this act the king died. The ministers, desirous of averting a civil war, proclaimed Kei Kobad, the son of Bakarra Khan, and restored Khusrou to his father's government of Multan. Both the losing claimants appeared to acquiesce in this arrangement, and Kei Kobad mounted the throne without opposition. Moizz ud din Kei Kobad The new king, who was in his eighteenth year at his acces- sion, gave way, without restraint, to the pleasures natural to his age. He was encouraged in his vices by his vazir, Nizam ud din, who entertained hopes of securing the crown for himself. As Kei Khusrou stood immediately in the way of his design, he took advantage of some imprudence on his part to render him an object of jealousy to the king ; and being thus secure of impunity, he procured his assassination. By similar arts he brought about the death or disgrace of all the ministers who were not his own creatures ; and as his wife's ascendency was as great in the harem as his was in the court, he held the king entirely cut off from all knowledge but what he thought proper to impart. Many Mogul adventurers had at this time taken service at Delhi : it was an object to Nizam ud din to alienate these useful auxiliaries from the king ; and he worked on that prince's 19 [He was kept a prisoner in Balkh 20 [More properly Baghra Khan ; for two years. He afterwards wrote a he was also called Nasir ud din.— celebrated elegy on the prince's death. ED.] Sir G. Ouseley's Biog, Notices. — ED.] VI. 1 FATHER AND SON 375 fears by pretending a correspondence between them and their hostile countrymen, until he induced him to invite their chiefs to a banquet, and put them treacherously to death. Before his schemes were matured, he was interrupted by the approach of the king's father, Bakarra Khan, who, hearing of the state of affairs, marched with an army to look after the interests of his family. The vazir easily prevailed on the king to move out to oppose him ; but when the armies drew near, Bakarra Khan appealed so strongly to his son's affections that the minister could no longer prevent an interview. He endeavoured to frustrate the effects of it by imposing many humiliating ceremonies on Bakarra Khan, to all which that prince submitted ; until, after repeated obeisances, he found the king remaining unmoved on his throne, when, shocked by this unnatural behaviour, he burst into tears. This sight overpowered all the king's resolutions : he leaped from his throne, and ran to throw himself at his father's feet ; and, the father hastening to prevent him, he fell on his neck, and they remained for some minutes weeping in each other's arms, while the whole court was almost as much affected as themselves. When the first transport was over, Kei Kobad seated his father on the throne, and showed him every mark of love and rever- ence.21 All thoughts of war were now at an end ; but, after repeated interviews, Bakarra Khan found that the vazir's vigilance, and his power over the enfeebled mind of the king, rendered it impossible to subvert his authority by peaceful means ; and being unwilling, or unable, to resort to force, he returned to Bengal, and left his son to his fate. Kei Kobad plunged anew into all sorts of debauchery, and to such excess that, at that early age, he entirely broke his consti- tution, and brought on an attack of palsy. Being now driven on reflection, he perceived all the dangers of his situation ; and, unable to rid himself of his minister by honourable means, he had recourse to the lessons with which he had been made fami- liar, and succeeded, before long, in taking him off by poison. The removal of this predominating influence served only to let loose a number of other enemies, all eager to seize on the power which the king was unable himself to retain. The ascendency of the slaves about the court had been destroyed by the policy of Balban, and the contest was now between the principal military leaders ; and as the native Indians were not yet of sufficient importance to form a party, the only competitors were the Tartar chiefs and those of the 21 [Amir Khusrau has taken this For an analysis of it see Journ. As. history as the subject of his poem, the Soc. Bengal, 1860. — ED.] Kirdn us ScCdain, in 4,000 couplets. 376 HOUSE OF KHILJI A.D. 1288, A.H. 687 old kingdom of Ghazni or Ghor. The Khiljis seem, from the ability of their chief, or some advantage of their own, to have been at the head of the latter class : they prevailed over the Tartars, and Jelal ud din Khilji was raised to the throne, after the way had been opened for him by the assassination of Kei Kobad.22 HOUSE OP KHILJI CHAPTER II A.D. 1288, A.H. 687— A.D. 1321, A.H. 721 Mild government of Jelal ud din — Vigour of Ala ud din, the king's nephew — Ala ud din's invasion of the Deckan, A.D. 1294, A.H. 693 — Submission of Deogiri — Ala ud din's return to Hindostan — Assassination of Jelal ud din, July 19, A.D. 1295, A.H .695, Ramazan 17 — Singular instance of credulity and injustice — Expedition to Guzerat, A.D. 1297, A.H. 697— Mogul incursions — Serious invasion by the Moguls — Their defeat at Delhi — Designs of the king's nephew — He attempts to assassinate the king — His failure and death — Other disturbances quelled — Fall of Rintambor, A.D. 1300, A.H. 700 — Capture of Chitor, A.D. 1303, A.H. 703 — Unsuccessful invasions of the Moguls, A.D. 1304-5, A.H. 704-5 — Discontinuance of their incursions — Expedition to the Deckan, A.D. 1306, A.H. 706 — Story of the Princess Dewal Devi — Failure of an expedition to Telingana, A.D. 1309, A.H. 709 — Conquest of Carnata, and of Maaber, up to Cape Comorin, A.D. 1310, A.H. 710 — Massacre of Mogul converts, A.D. 1311, A.H. 711 — Taking of Deogiri, and con- quest of Maharashtra, A.D. 1312, A.H. 712 — Intrigues and influence of Cafur — Revolt of Guzerat — Recovery of Chitor by the Rajputs — Death of Ala ud din, Dec. 19, A.D. 1316, Shawwal 6 A.H. 716, — His character — His internal policy — Conquest of Malabar — Influence of Khusrou, and ascendency of a Hindu party at court, A.D. 1319, A.H. 719 — Murder of Mobarik, and extirpation of his family, March 24, A.D. 1321, Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 721. Jelal ud din Khilji 1 JELAL UD DLN was seventy years of age when he came to the government. 22 [Ferishta calls the competitors of the Khiljis, Moguls ; * but it is impossible to believe in the ascend- ency of that tribe, any more than in the disappearance of the Turks, at so early a period. The pretender set * [The original has atrdk " Turks," wrongly translated " Moguls." Zia ud din Barni (p. 171) expressly says that it was a contest between the Turk and non-Turk party, the latter being headed by the Khiljis. He adds, that " from the day of the death of Kai Kobad the kingdom passed from the house of the Turks." — ED.] up by the Tartars was, moreover, the son of Kei Kobad, a natural object of choice to them for his Turki descent, but of aversion to the Moguls for his father's massacre of their chiefs. The succession of kings of Delhi which commenced with Kutb ud din is by some considered as a continua- tion of the line of Ghor ; but most Oriental writers include those princes, along with Eldoz and one or two others, in a dynasty to which they give the name of " The Slaves of the Sultans of Gh6r." 1 For the origin of the Khiljis, see Book v. ch. ii., note near the end of VI. 2 JELAL UL> DIN 377 He affected extreme regret at having his high office forced on him. and professed the utmost respect and attachment for the memory of Ghiyas ud din. He overacted humility so far as to refuse to enter the royal palace on horseback, and to stand at his usual station in the court instead of occupying the throne. But he kept the infant son 2 of the late king in custody, and put him to death as soon as he felt strong enough for such a measure. If this last atrocity be imputed to him on false grounds, which is not improbable, we should be inclined to acquit him of hypocrisy in all his former professions ; for, during the rest of his reign, his lenity to his enemies, both open and secret, was carried even to a fault ; and he continued to retain the simplicity of his manners, and to associate with his old friends, on the same footing of familiarity that he did when a private man. He had frequent parties of those friends, together with men eminent for wit or literature ; and, on those occasions, he carried conviviality beyond the limits of the Mahometan law, though never beyond those of sobriety. He had soon occasion to display his clemency. Malik Jahju, a nephew of Ghiyas ud din, rebelled against him in his government of Karrah, and was joined by all the adherents of the house of Balban. They were soon strong enough to march to Delhi, but were defeated by the king's second son, Arkalli Khan ; and all the chiefs, including Malik Jahju, were made prisoners. The king immediately released them all, and sent Malik Jahju to Multan, where he allowed him a liberal establishment for the rest of his days. He soon after showed equal magna- nimity towards a body of chiefs, of his own tribe, who were detected in a plot against his life. Unfortunately, he did not confine his lenity to personal injuries, but allowed so general an impunity to offenders, that the whole frame of the govern- ment became relaxed ; governors withheld their tribute, neglected their duty, and abused their power ; the roads and highways were infested by robbers, and bands of plunderers and insurgents interrupted the communication between different parts of the kingdom. He marched himself into Malwa, to quell an insurrection of a more general character. He was successful in the main ; yet from his aversion to shed blood, combined with the the chapter. Though Turks by with their Turki brethren, and would descent, they had been so long settled be more civilized than the generality among the Afghans that they had of Afghan mountaineers, almost become identified with that 2 [The other party had tried to people ; but they probably mixed raise him to the throne under the more with other nations, or at least name of Shams ud din. — ED.] 378 ALA UD DIN A.D. 1293, A.H. 692 feebleness of age, he hesitated to attack the principal fortresses of the rebels, and left his suppression of the revolt incomplete. He showed more vigour soon after, on an invasion of the Pan jab by a numerous host of Moguls, whom he engaged in person, and totally defeated. With characteristic moderation, he granted peace to the vanquished enemy, and allowed the wreck of their army to retire unmolested. Three thousand Moguls on this occasion joined the standard, and soon after embraced the Mahometan religion. A place in the suburbs of Delhi, still called Moghulpur, was assigned for their residence. In the next year he made another march to Malwa, which was as inconclusive as the first. His own weakness, however, began at this time to be made up for by the energy of his nephew, Ala ud din, governor of Karrah, a man of vigour and ability, quite exempt from all the scruples which sometimes obstructed his uncle's success. Having obtained permission to act against the insurgents in Bundelcand and the east of Malwa, he not only restrained their turbulence, but took several forts, which had before been left to dependent princes, and gained such a booty as enabled him to make considerable additions to his army. The king received the intelligence of his success with great satisfaction ; and although his favourite wife endeavoured to put him on his guard against the ambition of Ala ud din, he gave him the government of Oudh, in addition to that which he before possessed, and allowed him to assemble an army, and to entertain many of the old adherents of the Balban family. Ala ud din's first employment of his force justified his uncle's confidence, and opened a new era in the history of India. He resolved to attempt the hitherto untried adventure of an invasion of the Deckan ; and setting out with 8,000 chosen horse from Karrah, made his way through the extensive forests that still fill the space between that place and Berar ; threw the princes whose country he was approaching oft' their guard, by pretending to have left his uncle in disgust ; and, having thus reached E'lichpur, he turned to the west, and proceeded, by rapid marches, to Deogiri, the main object of his expedition. Deogiri (now Doulatabad) was the capital of Ramdeo, a prince of so great power that the Mahometans looked on him as king of the Deckan, and who, in fact, was raja of Maharashtra, or the country of the Marattas. It was probably owing to the natural indolence of the Rajputs, and their deeming it dishonourable to attack each other without warning, that the Mussulman invaders so often found them unprepared for defence. Their example seems to have infected the other Hindu chiefs, for, on this occasion, VI. 2 INVASION OF THE DECKAN 379 the raja was in all the security of profound peace. He had no troops about him, and his wife and son had gone out of the city to a neighbouring temple. In the consternation which ensued, Ramdeo preserved presence of mind sufficient to assemble a body of 3,000 or 4,000 citizens and domestics. With these he made head against the enemy, and afforded some little time for defensive arrangements. He was obliged to give way before long, and retired into the strong hill-fort close to the city, into which some provisions had hastily been thrown. The town was taken without resistance, and was given up to pillage. The merchants were tortured to make them disclose their treasures (the first instance mentioned in Mussulman history of this species of barbarity) ; and forty elephants, with some thousand horses of the raja, fell into the hands of the enemy. Meanwhile the fort was invested ; and Ala ud din having given out that his army was only the advanced guard of the king's, the arrival of which would speedily render all opposition unavailing, the raja became impatient to come to terms, and had actually concluded a treaty very favourable to the invaders when his son, who had escaped being shut up with his father, returned at the head of an army, suddenly assembled, but far exceeding that of the Mussulmans in num- bers. Trusting to this superiority, he disregarded the remon- strances of his father, and attacked Ala ud din. The result would have gone hard with the invader, if a small body of troops which he had left to observe the garrison had not opportunely fallen on the enemy, and, being taken for the expected main army under the king, created a confusion which could not be retrieved. After this victory Ala ud din raised his demands ; and as the raja expected reinforcements from his allies, the affair might have been prolonged more than was safe for Ala ud din, had not the garrison unexpectedly discovered that, in the hurry of victualling the fort, sacks of salt had been taken by mistake instead of sacks of grain, and consequently that their provisions were already nearly exhausted. This discovery made the raja more compliant : he agreed to an immense payment in money and jewels, besides the cession of E'lichpur and its dependencies ; after which Ala ud din drew off through Khandesh into Malwa. Ala ud din's march to Deogiri was about 700 miles, great part of it through the mountains and forests of the Vindhya range, which so completely separates Hindostan from the Deckan. The narrow and intricate paths, the want of supplies, and the danger of exposure to the arrows of the mountaineers, made the passage difficult for a small force, and impossible for a large one ; while the entry into so great and populous 380 PARRICIDE A.D. 1295, A.H. 695 a country as the Deckan, with no more than 8,000 men, seemed an act of rashness rather than of courage. To have surmounted these dangers, and obviated, by exploring a new route, the increased difficulty of returning by the same, give a high impression of the military talents of Ala ud din. The pretext he used on his advance, that he was on his way to enter the service of the Hindu raja of Rajamandri, shows how much religious distinctions were weakened since the settlement of the Mahometans in India. This expedition had been undertaken without leave ; and as all communication had been cut off while it continued, Jelal ud din remained in suspense and anxiety, both as to the fate and the designs of his nephew ; and when he heard that he was on his return loaded with treasures and covered with glory, he felt nothing but delight at the intelligence. The more sagacious of his advisers took a different view of the matter ; and, seeing fresh proofs of the daring spirit of Ala ud din, as well as of the resources at his disposal, they advised the king to adopt such measures of precaution as, without showing distrust, should prevent his assembling another army when the present should have dispersed to lay up their spoils. The generous temper of the king led him to disregard all these admonitions, and laid him open to the insidious designs of Ala ud din, who now affected alarm from the cabals of his enemies, and fear of the king's displeasure for his unauthorized expedi- tion. He sent his brother, Alaf Khan,3 as crafty an intriguer as himself, and remarkable for his insinuating address, to deprecate his uncle's resentment, and induce him to meet Ala ud din in such a manner as, under pretence of affording security to his nephew, should, in fact, leave none to himself. By degrees, he was persuaded to move with his army towards Karrah, then to advance with a small escort, and at last to cross the Ganges almost alone. Ala ud din fell at his feet, and the affectionate old man was patting him on the cheek, and reproaching him with having distrusted an uncle who had brought him up from his infancy, and loved him better than his own sons, when Ala ud din made a signal to assassins posted for the purpose, who rushed forward and stabbed the king to the heart. His head was stuck on a spear, and carried aloft through the camp and the city. Ferishta shows a natural pleasure in relating the calamities which pursued the subordin- ate actors in this horrid tragedy to their graves ; but that retribution affords little satisfaction while we continue to witness the uninterrupted prosperity of the parricide in whom the whole of this detestable act of perfidy had its rise. 3 [Zia ud din Barni calls him Alagh Khan. — ED.] VI. 2 EXTRAORDINARY CREDULITY 381 As Jelal ud din had reigned upwards of seven years, he must have been more than seventy-seven when he was killed. A singular incident occurred in this reign, which shows the credulity of the Asiatics even at a period not remarkable for superstition. A dervise named Sidi Moula, a native of Persia, who had travelled through many countries, and was acquainted with most men of eminence in his day, arrived at Delhi, and instituted a school and an almshouse, where travellers, religious mendicants, and persons of all descriptions were entertained at his expense. He lived on rice alone, and had neither wife nor slaves of either sex, yet his expenses were such as would have exceeded the means of the wealthiest nobleman. Besides his profuse dispensation of charity, he entertained the great men with splendour at his house, and did not hesitate to bestow sums of two or three thousand pieces of gold to relieve noble families in distress. Although he held some peculiar opinions, and among others never attended public worship, yet his piety remained unquestioned ; and even among the suspicions to which his conduct gave birth, the cry of heresy was never raised against him. The first surmise regarding him was that he possessed the philosopher's stone ; the next took a more dangerous form, and represented him as aiming at the crown ; 4 and this at last appeared in the definite shape of an accusation that he had prepared assassins to make away with the king, and had 10,000 of his votaries ready to profit by the confusion. The mysterious nature of the danger seems to have frightened the king out of his natural moderation. On the accusation of an alleged accomplice he apprehended Sidi Moula and his most considerable associates ; and, being unable to convict them on the evidence of one suspected witness, he ordered a large fire to be made on a plain before the town, to allow them to prove their innocence by an ordeal which they probably had appealed to. When the time came, the ministers raised their voices against the proceeding, as equally opposed to Mahometan law and to natural reason ; and the king, giving way to their remonstrances, ordered the accused persons to be kept in confinement. As they were leading them away to prison, some kalandars (a sort of religious mendicants), countenanced if not instigated by the king, fell on Sidi Moula, and put him to death in the royal presence. With his last breath he protested his innocence, and denounced the curse that impended over his oppressor. Jelal ud din was greatly troubled at the moment : a dark whirlwind which happened just then to arise increased the general horror ; and * [ZiA ud din Barni says that he who had been supplanted in the court was joined by many of the old nobles, by the Khilji party. — ED.] 382 CONQUEST OF GUZERAT A.D. 1295, A.H. 695 the death of the king's eldest son, which took place soon after, together with a failure of the rains and a famine which followed, as well as the awful termination of the monarch's own life, and the exclusion of his immediate family from the throne, were ascribed to the Divine vengeance for this act of impiety and injustice. Aid ud din When the accounts of the late king's death reached Delhi, his widow made a feeble attempt to set up her own son, an infant, in his place : on the approach of Ala ud din she fled to Multan, where the only other surviving son of Jelal ud din was governor ; but the whole family were inveigled from this asylum by means of a fallacious promise, when the two princes were put to death and the queen imprisoned. Ala ud din studiously endeavoured to recover the goodwill of his people, by his just exercise of the power he had obtained by so many atrocities. He was liberal in bestowing wealth and honours, and was profuse in gifts as well as in shows and magnificence : but as in the midst of his course of conciliation he could not refrain from acts of rapacity, and never repressed his arbitrary temper, he was only partially successful in his attempts to gain popularity ; and although his reign was long and glorious, he was always disturbed by conspiracies and rebellions, and disquieted by suspicions even of his own family and of those most trusted bv him. »/ His first great undertaking was an expedition to Guzerat. Shahab ud din's garrison had long been withdrawn, and the raja had recovered his independence. The present conquest was final. Alaf Khan, the king's brother, and his vazir, Nusrat Khan, who were at the head of the army, almost immediately took possession of the province ; the raja flying to Baglana, the nearest part of the Deckan. A harsh attempt to compel the troops to give up their plunder, while on their return towards Delhi, brought on a dangerous mutiny, in which the vazir's brother and the king's nephew lost their lives. It was at last quelled, and many of the mutineers were killed ; the survivors took refuge with the raja of Rintambor. Their families, including the women and children, were massacred by the king's order. The fugitives themselves, who appear to have been Mogul converts (always the chief actors in scenes of turbulence in those days), were put to death when Rintambor was taken.5 5 The Emperor Baber, who, though gives the following account of the a Turk, was himself descended by the Moguls in his service : — " The horde mother's side from Mogul ancestors, of Moguls have uniformly been the VI. 2 MOGULS INVADE THE PANJAB 383 During the preceding year an incursion of the Moguls into the Pan jab had been repulsed with loss, and another, equally unsuccessful, took place about this time. It was followed up by a more serious invasion, apparently designed for conquest as well as plunder.6 The commander was Kutlugh Khan, whom Ferishta describes as the son of Daud Khan, king of Transoxiana. He marched straight to Delhi, the Indian army which had been sent to oppose him retreating as he advanced, and the whole population of the surrounding country flying to the capital. So great was the crowd of fugitives that all communication through the streets was interrupted ; the provisions were almost immediately consumed, and in a few days famine was added to the miseries and terrors of the inhabitants. Ala ud din was forced in these circumstances to give up his intention of declining an action. He moved out at the head of all the troops he could collect ; and Ferishta alleges that the number of men assembled on both sides exceeded all that ever appeared in one place in India up to the time when he wrote. This most important contest was gained by Ala ud din, almost entirely from the skill displayed by Zafar Khan ; who was before the most distinguished of his generals. But the great services of that gallant chief had already rendered him an object of jealousy to Ala ud din, and no less to Alaf Khan, authors of every kind of mischief and king of Persia. (Price, vol. ii. p. 605.) devastation : down to the present The most conspicuous general of the time they have five times rebelled same monarch was Kutlugh Shah, against me." (Erskine's Bdber, p. who was at Herat in this year, A.D. 69.) 1297 (Price, vol. ii. p. 616, and De 6 At least eleven of these invasions Guignes, vol. iii. p. 270), and might are mentioned by Ferishta, not one possibly have led an expedition to of which is noticed by De Guignes, India, though circumstances make D'Herbelot, or Price, in their accounts it improbable. Opposed to this co- of the Mogul transactions ; and al- incidence of names, which would lead though there is a long list in D'Ohson us to suppose these invasions to have (vol. iv. p. 559), yet they are all given been made by the Moguls of Persia, on the authority of Ferishta. is the positive assertion of Ferishta, It is not improbable that the cruel that they and all the subsequent ravages by which they were marked inroads originated in Daud Khan may have led the Indian historians [Dawa Khan], king of Transoxiana, to overrate the importance of the who, by his account, was the father ordinary incursions ; but in some of Kutlugh Khan. Daud Khan is instances, especially in the present evidently the Doizi or Davat Khan one, the silence of the European mentioned by De Guignes (vol. iii. p. writers may perhaps be ascribed to 311, and note) as king of Trans- the imperfect information they pos- oxiana ; and Kutlugh is so common sessed respecting Mogul affairs in the a Mogul name, that two persons may east of Persia and in Transoxiana. very probably have borne it at the The commander of the last expe- same time. There does not, there- dition is called Choldi Khan by Fe- fore, seem to be any ground for rishta ; and Touldai Khan was one doubting Ferishta's account, of the officers of Ghazan Khan, then 384 SOLEIMAN A.D. 1299, A.H. 699 who purposely left him unsupported during the pursuit ; and the Moguls, perceiving his reduced numbers, turned upon him, and cut him to pieces with his detachment, after a resistance worthy of his former exploits. About a year after this deliverance, Ala ud din dispatched an army, under his brother, and the vazir, to reduce the hill-fort of Rintambor.7 They took a place called Jhayin, not far from Rintambor, and proceeded to lay siege to that fortress. In the commencement of the operations the vazir was killed by a stone from an engine ; and the garrison, making a sally, compelled the besiegers to fall back on Jhayin, and wait for reinforcements from Delhi. Ala ud din, on this, determined to prosecute the siege in person, and had made some progress on his march, when he had nearly fallen a victim to a crime of which he had himself set the example. His nephew, Prince Soleiman, who held one of the highest offices in the state, reflecting on the resemblance between his own situation and that from which the present king had risen to the throne, was led to think that a similar attempt on his part might be attended with equal success. A favourable opportunity soon presented itself, when the king was hunting at a distance from the camp, and was left with only two or three attendants, in consequence of the occupations of the chase. At this moment, Soleiman approached him with some of the newly converted Moguls ; and, before he had any suspicion of their purpose, they dis- charged their arrows at him, with such effect that he fell senseless on the ground. Soleiman, conceiving that his object was accomplished, galloped directly to the camp, announced the king's death and his own accession, and directed himself to be formally proclaimed. While he was seated on his throne, and receiving the homage of the great officers, Ala ud din came gradually to himself ; and, after his wounds were bound up, determined to proceed to join his brother at Jhayin. He was dissuaded from this by one of his officers, who advised him not to give his nephew time to establish his authority, but to show himself to the army, whose fidelity he had no reason to distrust. Ala ud din saw the wisdom of his advice, and mounting his horse, wounded as he was, he proceeded towards the camp. He met some foraging parties on his way, by which his retinue was increased to about 500 horse With this escort he presented himself on an eminence, in full view of the camp, and displayed the white umbrella, which was then the sign of sovereignty. He was no sooner perceived than the whole army flocked to join him ; and the usurper, finding himself 7 It does not appear when this insurgents, and defended by the king place was lost. It was besieged by of Delhi's troops, in A.D. 1259. VI. 2 HAJI MOULA'S REBELLION 385 left almost alone, mounted his horse, and sought for safety in a precipitate flight. He was overtaken, and his head brought to the king, who put the other conspirators to death. The king then proceeded to join his brother, and soon after resumed the siege of Rintambor. But his utmost efforts were insufficient to take the place ; and, before long, he received intelligence of the revolt of two of his other nephews, at Badaun. He did not think it necessary to move himself on this occasion : he suppressed the rebellion by means of his officers ; and when his nephews were sent to him, he first put out their eyes, and aftenvards ordered them to be beheaded. The ill-success of these rebellions did not prevent the occur- rence of another, of a still more extraordinary character. Haji Moula, a young slave of one of the principal families in Delhi, took advantage of some discontent against the chief magistrate of police to collect a mob and put him to death, under pretence of an order from the king ; and having thus got a body of infuriated followers, he proceeded to take possession of the city, to release the prisoners, distribute the royal arms and treasures among his adherents, and to set up a prince of the royal family for king. The decided conduct of a local officer prevented the ill effects of this explosion. He contrived to introduce a body of troops into the capital, killed Haji Moula, dispersed his rabble, and put his new king to death. Many executions followed by the king's order; and, amongst others, the whole family of Haji Moula' s former master, men, women, and children, were slaughtered, without a charge against them. At length Rintambor fell, after a siege of more than a year. The raja, with his family, and the garrison were put to the sword. In the year 1303 Ala ud din went, in person, against Chitor, a celebrated hill-fort in Mewar, and the principal seat of the Rajput tribe of Sesodia. He took the fort, made the raja prisoner, and left the eldest of his own sons as governor. Next year the raja escaped, and made himself so formidable, that Ala ud din found it prudent to make over the fort to another Rajput prince, named Maldeo, who, by Ferishta's account, was a nephew of the raja, but who is represented by the Rajputs as a person of another family. Maldeo remained tributary to Delhi until near the end of Ala ud din's reign, when he was expelled by Hamir, a son of the former raja.8 Ala ud din was recalled from these conquests by a new [ogul invasion and another attack on Delhi. His force was ' The descendant of this family is now Rana of Oudipur, the chief of the Vjput princes. CO 386 MALIK CAFUR [A.D. 1306, A.H. 706 so much weakened by detachments, that when he arrived at the capital he was unable to meet the enemy in the field, and obliged to entrench his camp. The Moguls, who probably were not prepared for protracted operations, withdrew without a battle ; and their retreat was ascribed, by the piety of the age, to a panic sent among them on the prayer of Nizam ud din Oulia, a celebrated saint then alive. In the next two years there were three Mogul inroads, one of which pene- trated, by the north of the Pan jab, into Rohilcand. On all those occasions the prisoners were sent to Delhi, where the chiefs were trampled to death by elephants, and the men butchered in cold blood.9 These were the last Mogul invasions for many years. Though Ala ud din's continual occupation since his acces- sion had, in some measure, withdrawn his attention from the Deckan, he had not forgotten the scene of his early exploits. At the time of his own expedition to Chitor (A.D. 1303, A.H. 703), he sent an army through Bengal, to attack Warangal, the capital of Telingana, situated to the south of the river Goda- veri ; and he now prepared a great force, for the purpose of reducing the Raja of Deogiri, who had of late withheld his tribute. Malik Cafur, who commanded this army, was a eunuch, and had been the slave of a merchant at Cambay, from whom he was taken, by force, during the conquest of Guzerat. Having come into the king's possession, he so completely won his master's affections that he rose to the highest offices, and excited the utmost disgust among the nobles by his rapid promotion from so base an origin. He now proceeded through Malwa, and by Sultanpur in Khandesh, to Deogiri. Before he commenced the siege, he overran the greater part of the Maratta country ; and so impressed Ramdeo with the impossibility of resistance, that he came out of his fortress, and agreed to accompany Cafur to Delhi. He was there received with favour, returned loaded with honours, and from that time forward remained faithful to the Mussulmans. A circumstance occurred during this expedition which deserves to be mentioned. Alp Khan, governor of Guzerat 10 (who must be distinguished from Alaf Khan, the king's brother), had been directed to march to Deogiri, to co-operate with Cafur. His road lay through Baglana, where the fugitive raja of Guzerat had taken refuge as has been related. This raja's wife, Caula Devi,11 had been taken prisoner during his flight, 9 Ferishta says 9,000 on one occa- p. 216, 1. 16. The king's brother had sion. died in A.H. 700. — ED.] 10 [He was the queen's brother, cf. n [Ferishta's text has Kanwala Ferishta, Per 8, text, p. 176, 1. 4, and Devi, i.e. Kamala Devi ? — ED.] VI. 2 DEWAL DEVI 387 and having been carried to Ala ud din's harem, had gained a great share of his favour by her beauty and talents. On hearing of the intended march of these forces, she entreated that means might be taken to recover her daughter by the raja, who still remained with the exiled prince. Alp Khan was enjoined to attend to this object, and endeavoured, by the offer of favourable terms, to prevail on the raja to give up his daughter. The raja rejected his overtures, and Alp Khan marched against him. The princess, whose name was Dewal Devi, had long been sued for by the son of Ramdeo, the raja of Deogiri ; but her father, considering a Maratta, however high in station, as an unworthy match for the daughter of a Rajput, had rejected all his offers. In the present extremity, however, he gave a reluctant consent, and the princess was sent off, with an escort, to Deogiri. Immediately after her de- parture Alp Khan succeeded in defeating and dispersing the raja's army. His victory afforded him little satisfaction, when he found that the princess had escaped him ; and knowing the influence of Caula Devi, and the impetuous temper of the king, he gave up his whole attention to the means of accomplishing an object which they had both so much at heart. His utmost efforts were not attended with success ; and he had arrived within a march of Deogiri without hearing any tidings of the princess, when a party who had gone from his camp to see the caves of Ellora happened, by mere chance, to fall in with her escort ; and being under the necessity of fighting in self-defence, they dispersed the escort, and captured the princess, before they were aware of the importance of their acquisition. Alp Khan, delighted with his prize, immediately marched with her to Delhi. Her beauty made such an impression on the king's eldest son, Khizr Khan, that he soon after married her ; and their loves are the subject of a celebrated Persian poem, by Amir Khusrou. This incident is remarkable, as showing the intermixture which had already taken place between the Hindus and Mahometans ; and also as leading to the first mention of the caves of Ellora, which have been compared, as works of labour, to the Pyramids of Egypt, and which, in reality, far surpass them as specimens of art. During this expedition of Cafur, the king, in person, reduced Jhalor and Sewana, places in Marwar, to the north of Guzerat. After the return of Cafur, according to Ferishta, Ala ud din received accounts of the failure of his expedition to Warangal. He had been induced to send it by an unexplored route from Bengal, in consequence of the solicitation of the raja of Orissa, who had become jealous of the extension of his neighbour's 388 BALLAL A.D. 1310, A.H. 710 power.12 It is not recorded how it failed, or how the contest was so long protracted. Cafur was sent to retrieve the disaster. He marched by Deogiri, ravaged the north of Telingana, gained a great victory in the field, took the strong fort of Warangal after a siege of some months, and compelled the raja to pay a large contribution and submit to permanent tribute, Next year Cafur was again sent to the Deckan, against the Ballal raja of Carnata.13 He marched by Deogiri, crossed the Godaveri at Peitan, and penetrated, after a great battle, to Dwara Samudra, the capital, which he took ; and, having made the raja prisoner, put an end to the dynasty of Ballal.14 He does not appear to have invaded the western part of the Ballal possessions ; but he reduced the whole of their eastern territory, including Maaber on the seacoast, as far south as Rameshwar, or Adam's Bridge, opposite Ceylon. He there built a mosque, which was still standing when Ferishta wrote.15 After this expedition Cafur returned, with vast treasures, to Delhi.16 It seems to have been about this time that Ala ud din at once discharged the whole of the Mogul converts from his service. Though habitually turbulent, they seem to have 12 Wilson's Introduction to the Mac- kenzie Catalogue, p. cxxxii. For an account of the principality of Waran- gal, see Book iv. ch. ii. 13 See Book iv. ch. ii. 14 Wilson's Introduction to the Mac- kenzie Catalogue, p. cxiii. Dwara Samudra was situated in the heart of Carnata, about 100 miles north-west of Seringapatam, where its ruins still remain. (Buchanan's Journey, vol. iii. p. 391.) 15 Briggs's Ferishta, vol. i. p. 373. Maaber (the place of crossing over) has very generally been supposed to be Malabar, as well from the resem- blance of the names as from the posi- tion of the latter country in reference to Arabia ; but there is no doubt that the appellation really applies to the tract on the opposite coast, extending north from Rameshwar. (See Mars- den's Marco Polo, p. 626, note.) That Maaber in this sense was included in the Ballal kingdom appears from Professor Wilson's Introduction to the Mackenzie Catalogue, vol. i. p. cxi. It remained united to Delhi for twenty or thirty years, till near the middle of the fourteenth century ; about which time Ibn Batuta crossed from Ceylon to Maaber, and found it in the possession of a Mahometan family, who had shortly before ac- quired it in consequence of the revolt of Jelal ud din Hasan, a sherif or seiad, who had been a subject of Mohammed Tughlak. The revolt of Seiad Hasan in Maaber against Mo- hammed Tughlak is also mentioned by Ferishta. (Briggs, vol. i. p. 423.) It is not probable that Cafur con- quered the western territory of the Ballals, because it appears from Wilks's Mysore that the remains of that family retired to Tomir near Seringapatam ; and Ibn Batuta found Malabar (which he visited on his way to, and on his return from, Maaber) in the hands of Hindu princes, except Honawar, which was held by a Mussulman under the sovereignty of a Hindu. The Mus- sulman religion had been- introduced in that quarter from Arabia some centuries before Ala ud din's in- vasion of the Deckan ; and it did not become the dominant one until the conquest of Malabar by Heider Ali. 16 Ferishta states that, at this time, there was no silver coinage in the Carnatic : and Colonel Briggs ob- serves that the same was true, to a certain extent, till very lately : the common coin was the pagoda, and there was a small coin called a gold fanam, as low in value as a sixpence VI. 2 DEATH OF ALA UD DIN 389 given no immediate occasion for this violent and imprudent measure. Being now driven to despair, some of them entered on a plot to assassinate the king ; and on its being detected, the king ordered the whole of them (amounting, according to Ferishta, to 15,000) to be massacred, and their families to be sold for slaves. Ramdeo had died before, or during, Cafur's last expedition ; and his son, who succeeded him, was already suspected of disaffection. He now withheld his tribute ; and some dis- turbances having likewise taken place in Carnata, Cafur once more set out to quell them. He put the raja of Deogiri to death, and carried his arms over all Maharashtra and Carnata, compelling those princes who still retain their territories to pay tribute ; and, after accomplishing all the objects of his expedition, he returned again to Delhi. Ala ud din's constitution had by this time yielded to a long course of intemperance. His ill-health made him more sus- picious and irritable than ever ; and, like most people who distrust the bulk of mankind, he was the dupe of one artful individual. This was Cafur, the extent of whose abilities was equalled by the depravity of his principles. The use he made of his influence was to destroy all whom he thought might rival him in favour, and afterwards to irritate the king against his sons, and the queen their mother, who might otherwise have found means to reconcile him to his children. Cafur first encouraged him in the notion that he was slighted and neglected by them in his illness, and at last infused suspicions that they were plotting against his life. Ala ud din, notwithstanding his unfeeling nature, seems to have had some affection for his offspring ; so that it was not till near his end that Cafur pre- vailed on him, by innumerable artifices, to commit the two eldest princes and the queen to prison. At the same time Cafur procured an order to make away with Alp Khan, whose power he dreaded, and thus to remove the only remaining obstacle to his seizing on the government on his master's death. Meanwhile the king's blind subjection to his favourite, and the increased tyranny of his administration, excited general discontent. The nobles of the court were disgusted. Guzerat broke into open rebellion. It was at this time that Chitor was recovered by Rana Hamir ; and Harpal, the son-in-law of Ramdeo, raised an extensive insurrection in the Deckan, and expelled many Mahometan garrisons. The paroxysms of rage produced by a succession of these tidings increased the king's sufferings, and soon brought him to the brink of the grave. His end is said to have been accele- rated by poison, administered by Cafur. 390 " THE SECOND ALEXANDER " So great is the effect of vigour in a despotism, that although Ala ud din was ignorant and capricious, as well as cruel and tyrannical, yet his foreign conquests were among the greatest ever made in India ; and his internal administration, in spite of many absurd and oppressive measures, was, on the wrhole, equally successful. Quiet and security prevailed throughout the provinces ; wealth increased, and showed itself in public and private buildings, and in other forms of luxury and im- provement. Ala ud din was so absolutely illiterate, that he began to learn to read after he had been for some time on the throne ; yet so arrogant, that his most experienced ministers durst not venture to contradict him, and the best-informed men about his court were careful to keep their knowledge to the level of his acquirements. Nor did this presumption wear off with his youth : it increased in his latter days to such a pitch, that every word he uttered was considered as irrevocable. In the commencement of his career of prosperity, he entertained thoughts of setting up for a prophet, and founding a new religion ; and when he had laid aside that fancy, he assumed the title of ' The Second Alexander," and publicly discussed a project of universal conquest. Some curious features are preserved of his policy, and that of his age. At the time when he had been so often threatened by conspiracies, he called his counsellors together, to consider the causes and the remedy. They traced his danger to three principal sources : — convivial meetings, where men opened their secret thoughts to each other ; connexions between great nobles, especially by intermarriages ; and, above all, the unequal distribution of property, and the accumulation of wealth by governors of provinces. The king concurred in these opinions : he forbade the use of wine, and prohibited all private meetings and political discussions among the nobles of his court, till, at length, no man could entertain his friends without a written order from the vazir. No marriage among the nobility was allowed without a licence from the crown. Farmers were limited to a certain quantity of land, and a certain number of cattle and servants. Graziers, in like manner, were re- stricted as to the number of their flocks and herds. Official emoluments were reduced ; the land-tax was increased, and more rigorously exacted ; and, at last, the king became so rapacious, that the private property both of Mussulmans and Hindus was confiscated without a cause, so that men were almost reduced to a level over all the empire.17 17 It is difficult to reconcile this are Ferishta's, with the same author's statement, the last words of which glowing account of the general pros- VI. 2 MOBARIK KHILJI 391 Among other measures of Ala ud din, one was for fixing rates for the prices of all articles. This plan originated in a wish to reduce the pay of the troops, which the king thought would be unjust unless the expense of living was lowered likewise. Accordingly, prices were fixed for grain, cattle, horses, etc., and for all other commodities, which were classed for the purpose.18 Everything was included except labour. Public granaries were constructed ; importation was encour- aged, exportation forbidden ; money was advanced to mer- chants to enable them to import goods. Wholesale purchases were not allowed ; hours were fixed for opening and shutting shops ; and the whole was rendered effective by public reports to the king, and the employment of spies and informers to detect breaches of the regulation. A dearth which ensued soon after occasioned a relaxation in enforcing the rules about grain ; and the others, though not rescinded till the next reign, were probably in a great measure neglected after the king had cooled on his scheme. One of Ala ud din's maxims was, that " religion had no connexion with civil government, but was only the business, or rather amusement, of private life " ; and another, that " the will of a wise prince was better than the opinions of variable bodies of men." Ala ud din had reigned upwards of twenty years. Mobdrik Khilji On the death of Ala ud din, Cafur produced a pretended will of that prince, appointing his youngest son, an infant, to be his successor, under the guardianship of Cafur. Having thus gained possession of the government, Cafur put out the eyes of the king's two eldest sons, and not long after sent assassins to murder the third son. Mobarik. The assassins, however, were won over and induced to spare him ; and before Cafur had time to take further measures, he was himself assassinated by the royal guard, headed by their commander and his lieutenant. Mobarik was immediately raised to the government. He did not assume the title of king for two months, at the end of which time he deprived his infant brother of sight, and sent him to a hill-fort for life. He next put to death the two officers who had placed him on the throne, and broke up the guard. He raised several of perity ; but it is probable the un- Ferishta, and would be interesting if favourable picture only applies to the the value of the coins could be better last years of the reign. ascertained. 18 Tables of the prices are given in 392 KHUSROU A.D. 1317, A.H. his slaves to high rank and office, and made one of them (a con- verted Hindu, to whom he gave the title of Khusrou Khan) his vazir ; so that his first acts gave an earnest of the bloody and licentious reign which was to follow. These misdeeds were not entirely unmixed with good actions ; he set free all prisoners, to the number of 17,000— a sweeping measure, which could only have been commendable after a reign like the preceding. He restored the lands con- fiscated by Ala ud din, removed his oppressive taxes, and abolished his restrictions on trade and property. His military proceedings in the early part of his reign were not less meritorious. He sent an army to reduce Guzerat, and marched himself to the Deckan, where he took Harpal prisoner, and inhumanly ordered him to be flayed alive. Hav- ing completely restored tranquillity, he returned to Delhi, and gave himself up to a course of the most degrading and odious debauchery. One of his amusements was to accompany a troop of actresses in a female habit, and to dance along with them at the houses of the nobility. He was in a constant state of intoxication, and his chief delight appeared to be to display his worst vices to the public. It is not surprising that under such a prince there should be a continual succession of con- spiracies and rebellions, each of which was followed by tortures and executions and each gave rise to fresh suspicions and additional acts of tyranny. During his expedition to the Deckan, he sent his favourite Khusrou to conquer Malabar, which he effected in the course of a year, and brought a great treasure to Delhi. The whole administration of the government was then confided to him, and every man's life and fortune was at his mercy. He put some of the nobility to death, and struck such a terror into the rest, that they thought themselves fortunate in being allowed to quit the court, and leave the king to the machinations of his favourite. The opportunity was not lost on Khusrou, who surrounded the king with his creatures, and filled the capital with Hindu troops of his own cast ; 19 until at length, when his plot was matured, he perpetrated the murder of his infatuated master, and at once assumed the vacant throne. He put to death all the survivors of the family of Ala ud din, and trans- ferred Dewal Devi to his own seraglio. His other measures were in the same spirit. But, notwithstanding his infamous character and his manifold crimes, he did not fail to obtain adherents, and to strengthen his party. He not only brought 19 [He was a converted Parwari as not to be admitted to build a house slave of Guzerat ; this cast is one of within the town. See Briggs's Fe~ Hindu outcasts, deemed so unclean rishta, vol. i. p. 387. — ED.] VI. 2 GHIYAS UD DIN TUGHLAK 393 his own low creatures into power, but endeavoured to gain over the established nobles, by investing them with some of the highest offices. Among this number was Juna Khan, the son of Ghazi Khan Tughlak, governor of the Pan jab, whose reputation and influence made it of the utmost consequence to conciliate him. In this Khusrou failed. Juna Khan fled from the court, and Ghazi Khan went into open rebellion ; and, marching to Delhi with the veteran troops of the frontier, he gained a victory over the dissolute and ill-commanded bands opposed to him, and put an end to the reign and life of the usurper, to the universal joy of the people. On entering Delhi, Ghazi Khan made a declaration that his only object was to deliver the country from oppression, and that he was willing to place any of the royal line on the throne. No member of the Khilji family was found to have survived, and Tughlak was himself proclaimed under the title of Ghiyas ud din. CHAPTER III HOUSE OF TUGHLAK, SEIADS, AND HOUSE OF L<5DI A.D. 1321, A.H. 721— A.D. 1526 A.H. 933 Failure of an expedition to Telingana, A.D. 1322, A.H. 722 — Conquest of Telingana ; capture of Warangal, the capital, A.D. 1323, A.H. 723 — Death of the king, February, A.D. 1325, Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 725 — Character of Mohammed Tughlak — Wild schemes of Mohammed — Projected conquest of Persia — Attempt to conquer China — Introduc- tion of paper money — Tyranny and exactions of the king — Rebellions, A.D. 1338, A.H. 739 ; A.D. 1339, A.H. 740 — Permanent revolt of Bengal about A.D. 1340, A.H. 741 ; and of the coast of Coromandel — Restora- tion of the Hindu kingdoms of Carnata and Telingana, A.D. 1344, A.H. 744 — Other rebellions, A.D. 1345, A.H. 745 ; A.D. 1346, A.H. 746 — Rebellion of the Mogul troops in Guzerat, A.D. 1347, A.H. 748 — General revolt of the Deckan — Vigour and activity of the king — Death of Mohammed Tughlak, March 20, A.D. 1351, Moharram 21, A.H. 752 — Removal of the capital to Deogiri, and other caprices of Mohammed — Foreign accounts of his court and government — The Mahometan territory in India at its greatest extent in this reign — Independence of Bengal and the Deckan recognized, A.D. 1356, A.H. 757 — The king's infirmities, A.D. 1385, A.H. 787 — Rivalries at his court — His death, Oct. 23, A.D. 1388, Ramazan 3, A.H. 790 — His laws — His public works —Dissolution of the monarchy — Invasion of Tamerlane — Defeat of the Indian army, Dec. 17, A.D. 1398 — Sack, conflagration, and massacre of Delhi — Tamerlane retires from India, March, A.D. 1399, A.H. 801 — His character — Anarchy at Delhi, A.D. 1400, A.H. 802 — Seiad Khizr Khan, A.D. 1414, A.H. 817 — Seiad Mobarick, A.D. 1421, A.H. 824 — Seiad Mohammed, A.D. 1435, A.H. 839 — Seiad Ala ud din, A.D. 1444, A.H. 849 — Rise of the family of Lodi — Pan jab re-annexed to Delhi — Re- covery of Jounpiir, A.D. 1478, A.H. 883 — Good administration of Secan- der — His bigotry — Discontents and rebellions — Invasion of Baber, A.D. 1524, A.H. 930 — He retreats from Sirhind — Return of Baber, December — Defeat and death of Ibrahim, April 21, A.D. 1526 — Occu- pation of Delhi and Agra, May 10. 394 HOUSE OF TUGHLAK A.D. 1321. A.H. 721 HOUSE OP TUGKHLAK Ghiyds ud din Tughlak GniYis UD DIN TUGHLAK was the son of a Turki slave of Ghiyas ud din Balban, by an Indian mother.1 His whole reign was as commendable as his accession was blameless. He began by restoring order in his internal administration, and by putting his frontier in an effective state of defence against the Moguls. He then sent his son, Juna Khan, to settle the Deckan, where affairs had fallen into disorder. Juna Khan's operations were successful, until he reached Warangal, on the fortifications of which place he was unable to make any impression : the siege was protracted until the setting-in of the hot winds, and perhaps till the first burst of the rainy season ; a malignant distemper broke out in his camp ; and his troops, already depressed by these disasters, were alarmed by false reports of the death of the king, and a revolution at Delhi. At length, some of his principal officers deserted him with their troops ; and the prince himself, endeavouring to retreat with the rest, was pressed by the Hindus, and pursued with great slaughter, towards Doulatabad. He only brought back 3,000 horse, out of his whole army, to Delhi. Juna Khan proved himself so indiscreet and self-willed in his own reign, that it is difficult to help ascribing a share of his failure, in this instance, to himself. He was more successful in his next attempt : he took Bidar, a place of strength and importance ; and afterwards reduced Warangal, and brought the raja prisoner to Delhi.2 After this the king proceeded in person to Bengal, where Bakarra Khan, the father of the former king, Kei Kobad, still retained his government, after a lapse of forty years. He was now confirmed in possession, and permitted the use of royal ornaments, by the son of his father's former slave. The king also settled some disturbances in Sunargong (now Dacca 3), which seems to have been a province independent of Bengal. On his way back, he reduced Tirhut (formerly Mithila), and took the raja prisoner. As he approached the capital he was met by his eldest son, Juna Khan, who received him with magnificence in a wooden pavilion erected for the occasion. During the ceremonies the building gave way, and the king, with five other persons, was 1 [Ferishta says that she was a woman of the Jat tribe. — ED.] ! The raja was afterwards released and restored. 3 Hamilton's Hindostan, vol. i. p. 187. VI. 3 MOHAMMED TUGHLAK 395 crushed in its fall. This misfortune may have been purely accidental ; but the unusualness of erecting such a structure at all, the opportune absence of the eldest prince at the moment, and the circumstance of the second, who was his father's favourite, being involved in the same calamity, fixed strong suspicions on the successor, in whose favour everything turned out so well.4 The fort or castle of Tughlakabad, which is remarkable even at Delhi for its massive grandeur, was built by Ghiyas ud din. Mohammed Tughlak Juna Khan, who assumed the name of Sultan Mohammed, took possession of his dignity with extraordinary magnificence ; and distributed gifts and pensions to his friends, and to men of learning, with a profusion never before equalled. He established hospitals and almshouses on the same liberal scale ; and throughout his whole reign his munificence to the learned was such as to deserve and to obtain their warmest expressions of praise. It is admitted, on all hands, that he was the most eloquent and accomplished prince of his age. His letters, both in Arabic and Persian, were admired for their elegance, long after he had ceased to reign. His memory was extraordinary : and besides a thorough knowledge of logic, and the philosophy of the Greeks, he was much attached to mathematics, and to physical science ; and used himself to attend sick persons, for the purpose of watching the symptoms of any extraordinary disease. He was regular in his devotions, abstained from wine, and conformed in his private life to all the moral precepts of his religion. In war he was distinguished for his gallantry and personal activity, so that his contemporaries were justified in esteeming him as one of the wonders of the age. Yet the whole of these splendid talents and accomplishments were given to him in vain : they were accompanied by a per- version of judgment which, after every allowance for the intoxication of absolute power, leaves us in doubt whether he was not affected by some degree of insanity. His whole life was spent in pursuing visionary schemes, by means equally irrational, and with a total disregard of the sufferings which they occasioned to his subjects ; and its results were more calamitous than those of any other Indian reign. His first act was one which neither his virtues nor defects would have led us to anticipate. An army of Moguls, under a very celebrated general, Timurshin Khan,* having entered the 4 See Ibn Batuta, p. 130. * [Ferishta calls him Turmushzin. — ED.] 396 ILL-STARRED EXPEDITIONS A.D. 1325, A.H. 725 Pan jab, he bought them off by the payment of an immense contribution ; and this first instance of such policy in India was not, as might have been expected, followed by fresh invasions. His next measure was equally inconsistent with his char- acter, for it was perfectly rational and well-judged. He com- pleted the reduction of the Deckan, and brought his most remote provinces into as good order as those near his capital. He then plunged into the career which seemed naturally suited to his genius. He first determined on the conquest of Persia, and assembled a vast army ; 5 which, after it had consumed his treasures, dispersed for want of pay, and carried pillage and ruin to every quarter. His next undertaking was to conquer China, and fill his exhausted coffers with the plunder of that rich monarchy. With this view he sent an army of 100,000 men through the Himalaya mountains ; but when the passage was effected, the Indians found a powerful Chinese army assembled on the frontier, with which theirs, reduced in numbers and exhausted by fatigue, was unable to cope. Their provisions likewise failed ; and the approach of the rainy season did not admit of a moment's delay in falling back. During their retreat they were harassed by the mountaineers, slaughtered by the pursuing enemy, and worn out by famine. The Chinese wrere at last checked by the torrents of rain which began to fall, and the Indians, in time, made their way through the mountains ; but they now found the low-country inundated, and the hills covered with impervious jungle. So terrible were the calamities of their retreat, that at the end of fifteen days scarcely a man was left to tell the tale ; and many of those who had been left behind in garrisons, as the army advanced, were put to death by the king, as if they had contributed to the failure of this ill-starred expedition. As this expedition had failed to relieve the king's wants, he had recourse to another, almost equally ill-contrived. He had heard of the use of paper-money in China.6 and he now 5 Ferishta makes it amount to 1345. Kai Khatu, the Moghul ruler 370,000 horse. of Persia, tried to introduce the same 6 [A paper-currency appears to system there in A.D. 1294, but failed, have existed in China two centuries (See Journal B.A.S. 1860.) Mu- before the Moghul conquest ; and we hammad Tughlak issued copper find it in full force under the succes- tokens instead of the paper notes sors of Chengiz Khan,as it is described (called chaus in Persia from the by Marco Polo, who resided in the Chinese word), and many of them are court of Kublai Khan, from about still extant. Mr. Thomas, by a com- A.D. 1274 to 1291, and Ibn Batuta, parison of the extant coins, fixes who visited China as Muhammad their issue as having continued from Tughlak's ambassador about A.D. A.H. 730 to A.H. 732. — ED.] VI. 3 DREADFUL MISGOVERNMENT 397 introduced the system into his own dominions, substituting copper tokens for paper. The king's insolvency, and the instability of his government, destroyed the credit of his tokens from the first ; foreign merchants refused to take them, and all attempts at compulsion were evaded, even at home ; trade, in consequence, was at a stand, and confusion and distress were spread throughout all ranks. The king gained, to appearance, in the payment of his debts, but his receipts were diminished in the same proportion ; the roots of his revenue were struck at by the impoverished condition of his subjects ; and the result of all this sacrifice of the fortunes of the people was to leave his own in greater embarrassment than ever. The king's exactions, which were always excessive, were now rendered intolerable by the urgency of his necessities : 7 the husbandmen abandoned their fields, fled to the woods, and in many places maintained themselves by rapine ; many towns were likewise deserted, and Mohammed, driven to fury by the disorders which he had himself occasioned, revenged himself by a measure which surpassed all his other enormities. He ordered out his army as if for a grand hunt, surrounded an extensive tract of country, as is usual on the great scale of the Indian chase, and then gave orders that the circle should close towards the centre, and that all within it (mostly inoffensive peasants) should be slaughtered like wild beasts. This sort of hunt was more than once repeated ; and on a subsequent occasion there was a general massacre of the in- habitants of the great city of Canouj. These horrors led in due time to famine, and the miseries of the country exceeded all power of description. All this oppression was not allowed to pass without attempts to shake it off. Mohammed's own nephew first revolted in Malwa, and, being pursued by the king into the Deckan, was taken and flayed alive. Malik Behram, the old friend of the king's father, whom he had helped to mount the throne, next rebelled in the Pan jab, and was also subdued and put to death. Bengal soon after revolted under a Mussulman officer, and was never again subdued. The country on the coast of Coromandel 8 almost immediately followed the example, and had the same success. The king went in person to put down this last rebellion, but his army was attacked by a pestilence at Warangal, and suffered so much by its ravages, that he was obliged to return 7 [Zia ud din Barni says that he 8 [In Ferishta it is called Ma' bar increased the land-tax of the Doab (see supra, p. 388) ; it revolted in district ten and twenty-fold (p. 473). 1341, under Sayyid Hasan, — ED.] —ED.] 398 WAR AND FAMINE A.D. 1344, A.H. 744 to Deogiri. On his way he had occasion to have a tooth drawn, and he buried it, with great ceremony, under a magnificent tomb. Meanwrhile the Afghans crossed the Indus and ravaged the Pan jab ; when they retired they were succeeded by the Gakkars, who took Labor, and completed the ruin of the province. The rajas of Carnata and Telingana now formed a combina- tion to recover their independence. The former was the founder of a new dynasty, erected on the ruins of that of Ballal, which fixed its capital at Bijayanagar,9 and maintained a nearly equal struggle with the Mussulmans until near the end of the sixteenth century ; the latter regained possession of Warangal, while Mohammed's garrisons were expelled from every part of their dominions. The famine in Hindostan being at this time at its height, the governor of Sambal became unable to collect his revenue, and, dreading the king's violence, went into rebellion. He was soon crushed, as was a similar insurgent at Bidar, in the Deckan ; but a new rebellion almost immediately followed in the latter place by one of the chiefs of converted Moguls, or, as they were now called, Amir Jadida, or new nobility. The present revolt was quashed, but their other chiefs remained as ready as ever to profit by any new disturbance. The next rebellion was that of Ein ul Mulk, who, being removed from his government of Oudh to that of the Deckan, suspected the king's intentions, and threw off his allegiance. He was soon reduced, but, contrary to all expectation, was pardoned, and restored to his office. The governor of the Deckan, who had hitherto made head against his continually increasing difficulties, was afterwards removed ; and the country was placed under the king's son- in-law, Imad ul Mulk, while a great addition was laid on the revenue of the province. Malwa likewise was put under a new governor of low origin, 9 [This revolt is an era of some im- traditions give him thirty-four years' portance in Hindu literary history, reign, others only fourteen. Mad- as it was accompanied by a temporary hava, who appears to have been also revival of Hindu learning. Tradition called Sayana, was his prime minister, in the Deckan ascribes the founding and we owe to him a series of com- of Vijayanagara, to two princes, mentaries on the Vedas, philosophical Bukkaraya and Harihara, with the systems, law, and grammar. Mad- aid of a learned Brahman, Madhava hava always mentions his patron's Vidyaranya. The common date of name in the commencement of his the founding is 1258 of the Salivahana works. See Wilson's Mackenzie era (A.D. 1336), but this is probably MSS. ; Colebrooke, Essays, ii. 255. too soon. The earliest copper land- A. C. Burnell, Preface to the Vansa- grant extant of Bukkaraya is dated brdhmana. — ED.] A.D. 1370, the latest A.D. 1375 ; some VI. 3 DEATH OF THE TYRANT 399 who showed his zeal by a treacherous massacre of seventy of the Mogul Amirs, on which the officers of the same nation in Guzerat prevailed on the rest of the troops to join them in rebellion. The king suppressed this insurrection in person, and ravaged his own province as if it had been an enemy's, giving up the rich towns of Cambay and Surat to plunder. Some of the rebels of Guzerat, having taken refuge in the Deckan, were protected by the Mogul Amirs in that province, which Mohammed so highly resented that he ordered those chiefs to be made prisoners. They soon after effected their escape, raised a general rebellion, and proclaimed Ismail Khan, an Afghan general, king. Mohammed Tughlak, with a courage and activity worthy of a better cause, hastened to the Deckan, defeated the insurgents, and shut up the chiefs and their king in the fort of Deogiri. Before he could complete his success by the capture of that fortress, his presence was required by a new revolt in Guzerat : and as he was marching to suppress it, the people of the Deckan rose on his rear, and plundered his baggage and elephants. The disturbance in Guzerat was, however, got under, and the chiefs compelled to take refuge with the Rajput princes of Tatta in Sind, when intelligence arrived from the Deckan that things had there assumed a more formidable shape than ever. The rebel king had abdicated in favour of Hasan Gangii (who founded the new dynasty of Bahmani), and under his auspices the insurgents had defeated and slain Mohammed's son-in-law, Imad ul Mulk, and not only recovered the Deckan, but induced the governor of Malwa to join in their insurrection. Mohammed, now sensible of his error in hastening to oppose every new revolt, and not first settling that on hand, determined to place Guzerat on a secure footing before he ventured to confront the increased difficulties which threatened him in the Deckan. Although already in precarious health, he set out after the fugitives to Sind. He was opposed by the rebels on the Indus, but crossed the river in defiance of them ; and had reached Tatta, when he had an accession of illness, and died in that city, leaving the reputation of one of the most accomplished of princes and most furious tyrants that ever adorned or disgraced human nature. Among the many projects of Mohammed, none occasioned so much misery, or gave rise to so much complaint, as that of transferring the capital from Delhi to Deogiri. The design was by no means unreasonable in itself, if it had been begun without precipitancy, and conducted with steadiness. But Mohammed, as soon as the fancy struck him, ordered the whole of the inhabitants of Delhi to remove to Deogiri, to which he 400 MAGNIFICENCE AND DESOLATION gave the name of Doulatabad.10 After this the people were twice permitted to return to Delhi, and twice compelled, on pain of death, to leave it : one of these movements took place during afamine,and caused aprodigious loss of life, and all were attended with ruin and distress to thousands. The plan entirely failed in the end. Another of his whims was to acknowledge the sovereignty of the nominal calif in Egypt, to solicit in- vestiture from him, and strike out of the list of kings all who had not received a similar confirmation of their title.11 Another very expensive one was to divide the country into districts of sixty miles square, that the cultivation might be carried on under the management of the government. Many particulars regarding this reign are given by Ibn Batuta, a native of Tangiers, who travelled over all Asia, and visited the court of Mohammed about A.D. 1341, and who could have no interest in misrepresentation, as he wrote after his return to Africa. He confirms to their full extent the native accounts both of the king's talents and of his crimes, and gives exactly such a picture of mixed magnificence and desolation as one would expect under such a sovereign. He found an admirably regulated horse and foot post from the frontiers to the capita], while the country was so disturbed as to make travelling unsafe. He describes Delhi as a most magnificent city, its mosque and walls without an equal on earth ; but, although the king was then re-peopling it, it was almost a desert. ' The greatest city in the world (he says) had the fewest inhabitants." The king being absent, he was carried, with some other noble and learned strangers who arrived along with him, to the court of the queen-mother, where they were received and entertained with respect and attention, and dismissed with robes of honour. He had a house allotted him, with an ample supply of provisions and everything he could desire, and 2,000 dinars were given to him " to pay for his washing." His daughter happening to die, it was privately reported to the king by post ; and when the funeral took place, he was surprised to find it attended by the vazir, and performed with all the ceremonies usual for the 10 On this occasion he completed of Baghdad, in A.D. 1258, the Sultans the present fort, which still affords a of Egypt had recognized an Abbaside stupendous proof of the great scale as khalif ; and his descendants con- of his undertakings. The rock round tinued to exercise a nominal authority the hill is cut perfectly smooth and in Egypt, until it was conquered by perpendicular for 180 feet, — the only the Ottoman empire in A.D. 1517. entrance being through a winding For a full account of Muhammad passage in the heart of the rock. The Tughlak's proceedings in this matter, whole is surrounded by a broad and see Zia ud din Barni, pp. 491 — 496. deep ditch, cut also in the solid rock. He placed the khalif's name on his 11 [After the fall of the Khalifate coins instead of his own. — ED.J VI. 3 FIRUZ TUGHLAK 401 nobles of the country. The queen-mother sent for his wife to console her, and presented her with dresses and ornaments. The king's own manners, when he returned, were as cour- teous as his previous proceedings. Ibn Batuta went out to meet him, and was graciously received, the king taking him by the hand and promising him every kindness. He afterwards made him a judge, conversed with him in Arabic on the duties of the office ; and when Ibn Batuta hesitated, on account of his ignorance of the Indian language, the king, though some- what ruffled by his starting difficulties, answered his objections with temper, and assigned him a most liberal salary. He afterwards paid his debts, to the amount of 55,000 dinars,12 on his requesting it in an Arabic poem. But Ibn Batuta soon found the dangerous ground he stood on. A particular dervise near Delhi falling under the king's suspicions, he immediately put him to death, and seized all persons who had frequented his cell. Among the number was Ibn Batuta, who was one of the very few who escaped with their lives. After this he took an early opportunity of resigning his office ; but the king, instead of being offended, attached him to an embassy which he was sending to China, in return for a very splendid one which had just reached his court. The Mahometan empire to the east of the Indus was more extensive in the early part of this king's reign than it ever was at any other period, but the provinces now lost were not all retrieved till the time of Aurangzib ; and, even in those which did not revolt, the royal authority received a shock from which it did not recover till the accession of the Mogul dynasty. There is in general so little scruple about getting rid of a bad king in the east, that it is seldom such extensive mischief is brought about by the misgovernment of one man. Firuz Tughlak On the death of Mohammed Tughlak the army fell into disorders, in which, as usual, the Moguls u were the principal actors. The Indian chiefs (now mentioned for the first time) succeeded in repressing them, and raised Firuz ud din, the late king's nephew, to the throne. He left a detachment to settle Sind, and marched along the Indus to Uch, and thence to Delhi, where he overcame an opposition set up in the name of a child, the real or supposititious son of his predecessor. 12 The dinar, at this period, seems 13 [These were the Moghul mercen- to have been a very small coin ; but aries. The Indian chiefs, of Briggs's I do not know its precise value. translation of Ferishta, are the Turk [Muhammad Tughlak's dinar was a and Pathan nobility of the court. — gold coin weighing 200 grains. — ED.] ED.] D D 402 NASIR UD DIN A.D. 1353, A.H. 754 Three years after his accession he made an attempt to re- cover Bengal, and overran the whole province, but was not able to reduce his enemy, until the rains setting in compelled him to retreat. At a later period he received embassies both from Bengal and the Deckan, and thus acknowledged the independence of both monarchs, though, perhaps, without renouncing his nomi- nal superiority. Whether the treaty with Bengal was merely personal, or wiiether the death of the first king was a temptation for infringing it, we find the war almost immediately renewed with his successor, Secander, against whom Firuz marched in person to the extreme south-east of Bengal. He afterwards renewed his treaty with Secander, whose independence was no longer questioned. Several years after this adjustment, some provocation from Jam Bani, the Rajput prince of Tatta,14 induced the king to march in person to Sind ; and although his expedition was unsuccessful, his failure was softened by the nominal submission of the Jam. From Sind he went to Guzerat, where he left a new governor. In the course of a few years the death of this officer led to another appointment, and a rebellion of no long duration. Other affairs of less importance kept Firuz in activity till A.D. 1385, when, having reached his eighty-seventh year, he became incapable, from his infirmities, of conducting his government, and it fell by degrees entirely into the hands of his vazir. The enjoyment of power tempted that minister to secure its permanence by plotting against the heir-apparent. He had nearly succeeded, through the usual calumnies, in paving his way to the succession by the removal of the king's eldest son, when that prince took the bold measure of secretly introducing himself into the seraglio, and throwing himself on the affection of his father. Firuz, either from conviction or weakness, gave up the vazir, and soon after openly invested his son with the whole powers of the state. The prince, whose name was Nasir ud din, showed so little ability in the exercise of his authority, that in little more than a year he was displaced by two of his cousins. They raised a sedition in the capital, and, making use of the name of the old king, whose person they had secured, obliged Nasir ud din to fly to the mountains of Sarmor, between the upper courses of the Jumna and Satla j . They then announced that Firuz had abdicated in favour of his grandson, Ghiyas ud din. 14 [This was a prince of the Samma the Sumras. See Sir H. Elliot's dynasty, who had recently expelled Arabs in Sind, p. 194. — ED.] VI. 3 PUBLIC WORKS 403 Almost immediately after this revolution Firuz died, at the age of ninety.15 His reign, though not brilliant in other respects, was dis- tinguished for the enlightened spirit of his regulations, and the extent and utility of his public works. He limited the number of capital punishments, and put a stop to the use of torture and the practice of mutilation ; which last prohibition was the more meritorious as it was at variance with the Maho- metan law. He abolished a great number of vexatious taxes and fees, put an end to all fluctuating and precarious imposts, and fixed the revenues in such a manner as to leave as little discretion as possible to the collectors, and to give precision and publicity to the demands of the state. He in some measure fell into the spirit of his times in punishing atheism by banish- ment, but showed his usual good sense in discouraging luxury in apparel by his own example rather than by sumptuary laws. The following list is given of his public works, for the main- tenance of which lands were assigned : — 50 dams across rivers, to promote irrigation ; 40 mosques, 30 colleges, 100 caravan- serais, 30 reservoirs for irrigation, 100 hospitals, 100 public baths, 150 bridges — besides many other edifices for pleasure or ornament. The round numbers, as well as the amount of some of the items, suggest doubts of the accuracy of this list ; but the works of Firuz that still remain afford sufficient evidence of the magnitude of his undertakings. The most considerable of these is not specified in the list : it is a canal, from the point in the Jumna where it leaves the mountains, by Carnal, to Hansi and Hissar. It reaches to the river Gagar, and in former times was again connected with the Satlaj, the nearest of the rivers of the Pan jab. It seems to have been intended for irrigation ; but as it has been disused, perhaps since the death of Firuz, we can only judge of it by the part restored by the British Government, which takes in the whole to beyond Hissar, a distance of 200 miles. This portion now turns mills for grinding corn (which before were not used in India), and is also employed in saw-mills and oil and sugar-mills. It floats down rafts of wood from the mountains, and is capable of conveying merchandise in boats of a certain construction ; but its great object is irrigation, by means of which it has fertilized a large tract, and turned the inhabitants from pastoral life to agriculture.16 5 [Ferishta says that Firuz was the not held in estimation. — ED.] first of the Delhi kings who brought 16 Major Colvin, Journal of the forward, by his patronage, the race of Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. ii. Afghans, as before his time they were p. 105. 404 GENERAL DISORDER A.D. 1389, A.H. 791 Ghiyds ud din Tughlak II Ghiyas ud din soon quarrelled with his kinsmen, by whom he had been raised ; and was deposed and murdered at the end of five months. Abubekr Tughlak Abubekr, grandson of Firuz by another son, was next made king ; and he had reigned for a year, when Nasir ud din left the mountains, where he had remained since his expulsion, returned at the head of an army, and recovered the capital. A contest followed, and lasted for several months, during which time Delhi was more than once lost and recovered, until at length Nasir ud din obtained permanent possession and soon after made his rival prisoner. It was a remarkable circum- stance in this contest, that a Hindu chief named Rai Sarwar was among the most important of the adherents of Nasir, and that the Hindus of Mewat took an active part for his opponent. The household troops, who were all foreigners, having shown particular hostility to the conqueror, were banished the city ; and as some endeavoured to conceal their character, recourse was had to a test like the Jewish shibboleth, and all were treated as foreigners who could not pronounce a certain letter peculiar to the languages of Hindostan.17 From these circum- stances we may judge of the increased importance of the Hindus, and of the native Mahometans ; since the separation of the kingdoms of Ghor and India. Nasir ud dm Tughlak The second reign of Nasir ud din, though it presented a scene of general disorder, w~as marked by few great events. Farhat ul Mulk, the governor of Guzerat, revolted, and was reduced by Mozaffer Khan, who revolted himself in the next reign. There was also a rebellion of Rahtor Rajputs beyond the Jumna ; and the weakness into which the royal authority had fallen became everywhere apparent. This king's vazir was a Hindu convert, and was put to death on the accusation of his own nephew, an unconverted Hindu. n [" The king issued an order to the in a note to his translation, thinks effect that those only were natives that it refers to the letter r, but this who could say the words Khard would present no more difficulty to a Khari ; and when the others did not native of Bengal than to a Hindus- pronounce the words as the king tani. Can it refer to the inherent r quired, but uttered them after the vowel, which a Bengali would natur- fashion of the men of the east (Purb) ally pronounce as o — Khord Khori ? and Bangala, they were put to — ED.] death." (Ferishta.) General Briggs, VI. 3 TAMERLANE'S INVASION 405 On the death of Nasir ud din, his son Humayun succeeded, but died at the end of forty-five days, when his younger brother Mahmud was placed on the throne. Mahmud Tughlak The young king was a minor, and little qualified to restore the lost authority of the crown. Mozaffer Khan, the governor of Guzerat, began to act as an independent prince. Malwa, which had been reannexed to the crown after the separation of the Deckan, now permanently threw off the yoke, as did the little province of Khandesh ; and these new kingdoms remained independent until the time of Akber. The king's own vazir also seized on the province of Jounpur, and founded a kingdom. Meanwhile the capital was torn by sanguinary broils between factions. The remaining provinces looked on with indifference, or fell into disputes among them- selves ; and while the attention of all parties was absorbed in these fierce commotions, the invasion of Tamerlane burst upon their heads, and overwhelmed the contending parties in one common ruin. Tamerlane had united the hordes of Tartary in the same manner, though not to the same extent, as Chengiz Khan ; and, like him, he had carried his destructive inroads into all the surrounding countries. Though a Turk and a Mussulman,18 and born in a comparatively civilized country, he was almost as barbarous in his mode of war, and at least as short-sighted in his policy, as the Mogul. His empire was even more tran- sient, since he did not attempt to retain the greater part of the countries he overran ; and if some of the fragments that remained to his family became flourishing provinces, it was because the character of his descendants formed almost a contrast to his own. He had conquered Persia and Trans- oxiana, and ravaged Tartary, Georgia, and Mesopotamia, with parts of Russia and Siberia, before he turned his arms, without the pretext of a quarrel, on the distracted empire of Hindostan. Early in the spring of A.D. 1398,19 Pir Mohammed, the grandson of Tamerlane, who had been employed in reducing the Afghans in the mountains of Soleiman, crossed the Indus in a line with Uch, and soon after laid siege to Mult an, an operation which occupied him for upwards of six months. 18 Tamerlane, or the Amir Timur, Chengiz Khan ; but all that is certain as he is called in Asia, was born at is, that his grandfather was chief of Kesh, near Samarcand, where the the tribe of Berlas. languages are Tiirki and Persian, and 19 Tamerlane's proceedings are where his family had been settled for from Price, vol. iii. p. 219, etc., 200 years. He claimed a remote Rennell's Memoir, p. 115, etc., and descent from the same stock with Briggs's Feriahta. 406 " EMPEROR OF INDIA " A.D. 1398, A.H. 801 Meanwhile Tamerlane passed the Hindu Gush by the usual route to Cabul,20 left that city in August, and marched by Haryub and Bannu to Dinkot on the Indus.21 He crossed that river by a bridge of rafts and reeds, and marched to the Hydaspes, and down its banks to Tulamba, reducing the country as he passed. He levied a heavy contribution on Tulamba, which was afterwards sacked, and the inhabitants massacred by the troops, — it is said without his orders. By this time Pir Mohammed had taken Multan by block- ade ; but the rains having set in, he lost his horses, and was at length obliged to shut himself up in the town. On the approach of Tamerlane, he set out to meet him, leaving a garrison in Multan, and joined his father on the Gara or Satlaj. Tamerlane thence proceeded with a light detachment to Adjudin, where he met with no sort of resistance ; and as the town was famous for the tomb of a Mahometan saint, " out of respect for his memory, he spared the few inhabitants who remained in the place." He then proceeded to Batner, and massacred the country people who had taken refuge under the walls. The place afterwards surrendered on terms ; but by one of those mistakes which so constantly accompanied Tamerlane's capitulations, the town was burned, and all the inhabitants put to the sword. He then marched to Samana, where he joined the main body, having slaughtered the inhabitants of every place he passed. From Samana the towns were deserted, and consequently there were no more general massacres. Many prisoners were, however, taken ; and on reaching Delhi, Tamerlane put to death all of them above fifteen years of age (to the number, according to the exaggerated accounts of the Mussulman historians, of 100,000). The Indian army, which was inferior in numbers and divided in councils, being defeated and driven into the town, Mahmud Tughlak fled to Guzerat ; Delhi surrendered, under a solemn promise of protection ; and Tamerlane was publicly proclaimed Emperor of India. What follows is so constant a concomitant of Tamerlane's promises of protection, that we are at a loss whether to ascribe it to systematic perfidy or to the habitual ferocity and insub- ordination of his troops. On this occasion, the most credible accounts attribute the commencement to the latter cause. Plunder and violence brought on resistance : ' This led to a general massacre ; some streets were rendered impassable 20 His previous expedition into the 21 The exact position of Dinkot is mountains of the Siaposh Cafirs will not known, but it must be to the be read with interest in Price, from south of the salt range. Mirkh6nd. VI. 3 SACK OF DELHI 407 by heaps of dead ; and the gates being forced, the whole Mogul army gained admittance, and a scene of horror ensued easier to be imagined than described." For five days Tamerlane remained a tranquil spectator of the sack and conflagration of the city, and during that time he was celebrating a feast in honour of his victory. When the troops were wearied with slaughter, and nothing was left to plunder, he gave orders for the prosecution of his march ; and on the day of his departure he " offered up to the Divine Majesty the sincere and humble tribute of grateful praise in the noble mosque of polished marble," erected on the banks of the Jumna bv Firuz.23 «/ The booty carried off from Delhi is said to have been very great, and innumerable men and women of all ranks were dragged into slavery. Tamerlane secured to himself the masons and workers in stone and marble for the purpose of constructing a mosque at Samarcand. He then marched to Mirat, where there was a general massacre ; and afterwards crossed the Ganges, and proceeded up its banks to near Hardwar, where that river leaves the mountains. Several affairs took place with bodies of Hindus in the skirts of the hills, in which Tamerlane exposed his person like a private soldier, and underwent fatigues the more extra- ordinary as he had reached the age of sixty-three. He marched along the foot of the mountains to Jammu (or Jum- moo, north of Labor) ; then turned to the south, fell into the route by which he first advanced, and quitted India, leaving anarchy, famine, and pestilence behind him.24 We must estimate Tamerlane's character from his actions, and not from the motives assigned to him by panegyrists, nor from maxims drawn up by his orders according to his idea of a perfect government. His own memoirs of his life throw a true light on his character.25 They are written in the plain and picturesque style of Turki autobiography ; and if there was a doubt that they were from Tamerlane's dictation, it would be removed by the unconscious simplicity with which he relates his own intrigues and perfidy, taking credit all the time for an excess of goodness and sincerity which the boldest flatterer would not have ventured to ascribe to him. The mixture also of cant and hypocrisy, with real superstition and devotion, could not have been exhibited by any hand but his own ; and !2 Briggs's Ferishta. on his famous expedition against 23 Price, apparently from Mir- Bajazet. khond. 25 Malfuzdt Timuri, translated by 4 About the 10th of March, 1399, Major Stewart. A,H. 801. He was now marching 408 THE SEIADS A.D. 1400, A.H. 802 these traits, with his courage, prudence, and address, his perfect knowledge of mankind, and his boldness in practising on their weakness, made one of the most extraordinary pictures ever presented to the world. The commanding language of bar- barous conquerors, contrasted with the evasions of the princes whom they threaten, leads us to figure them as rude and artless soldiers ; but the essential character of Tamerlane was that of a wily politician, and probably it was to similar talents that the other Tartar conquerors owed their ascendency over so many chiefs, who were their equals in merely military qualities. There is a resemblance between the histories of Chengiz Khan and Tamerlane ; but of those two enemies of mankind, the first was perhaps the more violent, and the second the more perfidious. For two months after Tamerlane's departure Delhi remained without a government, and almost without inhabitants. A struggle then took place for the possession of it, in which a chief named Ecbal, who had been in power under Mahmud, was at last successful. He failed in various attempts to extend his authority beyond the districts round the capital, and, at last, was killed on a distant expedition towards Multan. Mahmud had returned from Guzerat, and for some time lived as a pensioner at Delhi ; then at Canouj, a city belonging to the king of Jounpur, on which Ecbal made several attempts ; at last, on that chief's death, he was restored to the possession of Delhi. He died there, after a nominal reign of twenty years, and was succeeded by Doulat Khan Lodi, who, at the end of fifteen months, was expelled by Khizr Khan, the governor of the Pan jab. GOVERNMENT OF THE SEIADS For thirty-six years after this there was no kingdom of India, either in name or in reality. Khizr Khan affected to regard Tamerlane as emperor, and to govern in his name, with- out the title or forms of royalty. He was a descendant of the Prophet, though himself a native of India ; and, with three of his descendants who succeeded him, forms what is called the the dynasty of the Seiads. He obtained scarcely any territory with Delhi : his original province of the Panjab soon revolted, and his family had to struggle tor the possession of a part of it during the whole period of their government. They, however, made some spirited attempts to extend their territory, and made incursions into Malwa and the borders of Rajputana ; VI. 3 THE HOUSE OF LODI 409 but in the time of Seiad Ala ud din, the last of the race, the frontier came in one place to within a mile of the city walls, and nowhere extended beyond twelve. But Ala ud din pos- sessed Badaiin, a town about one hundred miles east of Delhi ; and to it he at length retired, making over his former capital and his pretensions to Behlul Khan Lodi, who assumed the title of king. HOUSE OF LODI Behlul Lodi The ancestors of Behlul had been enriched by commerce, and his grandfather was governor of Multan under Firuz Tughlak, who was the first great patron of the Afghans. Behlul's father and several of his uncles held commands under the Seiad rulers ; and one of them, Islam Khan, was so considerable, that he had 12,000 men of his own nation in his pay. The power of the family, together with the calumnies of a disaffected relation, at length excited the jealousy of Seiad Mohammed, and the Lodis were persecuted and driven into the hills. They con- tinued to resist the Seiad's authority, until Behlul had an opportunity of occupying, first Sirhind, and afterwards the whole of the Pan jab. Behlul had been invited to Delhi by Hamid, the vazir of his predecessor ; but, finding himself overshadowed by this powerful subject, he seized his person by a stratagem, and after he had broken his influence, allowed him to retire to private life. Behlul's accession again brought back the Panjab to Delhi. Multan had become independent during the time of the Seiads, and Behlul had marched against it, when he was recalled by an attack of the king of Jounpur, who had laid siege to Delhi. A war now commenced with that prince, which was continued, with short intervals of hollow peace, for twenty-six years, and ended in the conquest of Jounpur, which was permanently re-annexed to Delhi. Behlul survived this long war for ten years, and made other conquests on a smaller scale ; so that at his death he left a territory extending from the Jumna to the Himalaya mountains as far east as Benares, besides a tract on the west of the Jumna extending to Bundelcand. Secander Lodi Secander's accession was disputed by some chiefs on the part of his infant nephew. It was afterwards contested in the 410 SECANDER A.D. 1488, A.H. 894 field by two of his brothers, one of whom maintained an ob- stinate struggle. Secander was successful on all these occasions, and treated the inferior rebels with clemency, and his relations with affection. He reannexed Behar as far as the frontiers of Bengal to Delhi, and also extended his territories in the direc- tion of Bundelcand.26 His internal administration was just and vigorous, and he seems, in all other respects, to have been a mild and excellent prince. But he was one of the few bigots who have sat on the throne of India. He destroyed the temples in towns and forts that he took from Hindus, and he forbade the people performing pilgrimages, and bathing on certain festivals at places on the sacred streams within his own dominions. On one occasion he carried his zeal to cruelty and injustice ; for a Bramin having been active in propagating the doctrine that " all religions, if sincerely practised, were equally acceptable to God," he summoned him to defend this opinion, in his presence, against twelve Mahometan divines ; and, on his refusing to renounce his tolerant maxims, put him to death.27 A holy man of his own religion having remonstrated with him on his prohibition of pilgrimages, Secander drew his sword, exclaiming, " Wretch, do you defend idolatry ? ' He was appeased by the answer, " No ; but I maintain that kings ought not to persecute their subjects." When marching against one of his brothers, a kalandar addressed him with prayers for his success, on which he said, ' Pray for victory to him who will best promote the good of his subjects." Secander was a poet, and a great patron of letters. He died at Agra, after a reign of twenty-eight years.28 Ibrahim Lodi Ibrahim, who succeeded, had none of his father's virtues. He disgusted his tribe by his pride, and alarmed his chiefs by his suspicious and tyrannical temper. From these causes his reign was continually disturbed by rebellions. At the commencement of it one of his brothers was proclaimed king at Jounpur, was subdued in the course of a twelvemonth, and 26 [" But the monarchy was only sopher, who taught similar doctrines a congeries of nearly independent at an earlier period in this century, principalities, jagirs, etc. ; all offices (See Professor Wilson, Asiatic .Re- were committed to Afghans, and men searches, vol. xvi. p. 55.) [See his of the Lodi, Fermali, and Lohani Religious Sects, in his collected works, tribes held all the principal jagirs." vol. i. — ED.] (Erskine's Bdber and Humdyun, vol. i. 28 [He died A.D. 1517 or 1518. See p. 406.) — ED.] Erskine's Bdber and Humdyun, vol. i. 27 The Bramin was, probably, a p. 407. — ED.] disciple of Kabir, a ^ Hindu philo- VI. 3 IBRAHIM AND BABER 411 was privately executed by Ibrahim, who imprisoned his other brothers for life. A chief named Islam Khan next rebelled, and was killed in battle. Several men of rank and governors of provinces were executed for their share in these transactions. Others were put to death on suspicion ; some were secretly made away with, after being imprisoned ; and one was assassi- nated at the seat of his government. These proceedings spread general distrust and disaffection ; various chiefs revolted, and the whole of the eastern part of Ibrahim's dominions threw off its obedience, and formed a separate state under Derya Khan Lohani, whose son afterwards took the title of king. Doulat Khan Lodi, the governor of the Pan jab, dreading the fate of so many other chiefs, revolted, and called in the aid of Baber, who had for some time reigned in Cabul. Baber had before invaded the Pan jab, which he claimed as part of the inheritance of Tamerlane, and he now gladly availed himself of this invitation ; but some other Afghan chiefs, either from attachment to Ibrahim or aversion to a foreigner, drove out Doulat Khan, and opposed Baber in the field. They were totally defeated near Lahor, and that city was reduced to ashes by the victors. Dibalpur was next stormed, and the garrison put to the sword ; and at this place Baber was joined by Doulat Khan. He had reason, soon after, to suspect the intentions of this person, and threw him and his sons into confinement. Relenting subsequently, he released them, treated them honourably, and granted them a jagir. He did not, however, succeed in removing their distrust ; by the time he had reached Sirhind, on his advance towards Delhi, Doulat Khan and one of his sons revolted, and fled to the hills.29 Unwilling to leave such dangerous enemies behind him, Baber determined to return to Cabul. He nevertheless kept his hold on the country he had reduced, and left persons on whom he could depend in the principal places. At Dibalpur he left Ala ud din, an uncle of King Ibrahim, who seems to have escaped from confinement, and who had joined Baber. Doulat Khan now returned to the Panjab, and overran great part of it, Ala ud din flying to Cabul, but in the end Doulat Khan was entirely defeated by one of Baber's generals ; and as that monarch himself was engaged in defending Balkh against the Uzbeks, he sent Ala ud din to India, with orders to his own chiefs to assist him. Thus supported, Ala ud din advanced to Delhi, and, from the general disaffection, his army was soon swelled to 40,000 men. ' The other son, whose name was in the court of Delhi, and continued Dilawar, adhered to Baber, and had a to be a person of great authority in high place inrhis confidence. He had his reign and Humayun's. the title of Khani Khan&n, the second 412 DEFEAT OF IBRAHIM A.D. 1526, A.H. 933 With this force he engaged Ibrahim under the walls of Delhi, and was totally defeated. By this time Baber had settled Balkh, and was advanced as far as Lahor on his way into India. From Lahor he marched into the hills in pursuit of Doulat Khan, who submitted and gave up his fort ; 30 after which Baber continued his route through the hills to Ropur on the Satlaj, above Lodiana, and from thence nearly by the direct road to Delhi. At Panipat he found himself in the neighbour- hood of Ibrahim, who had come out to meet him at the head of an army, amounting, as it was represented to Baber, to 100,000 men, with 1,000 elephants. On the approach of this force, Baber took up a position, linked his guns together by ropes of twisted leather, and lined them with infantry further protected by breastworks. He likewise strengthened his flanks with fieldworks of earth and fascines. His army, including followers, amounted to no more than 12,000 men. When Ibrahim drew near, he also fortified his position ; but had not steadiness enough to adhere to his plan of awaiting an attack, and in a few days led out his army to storm Baber's lines. As soon as he was engaged with the front, Baber ordered his right and left wings to attack the flanks and rear of the enemy. They accordingly advanced, and plied them with their arrows, until the Indian troops, after attempting, in a few feeble charges, to drive them off, fell into disorder ; when Baber, who had hitherto been annoying them with his cannon, ordered his centre to move forward, and completed the rout of the enemy. Ibrahim was killed, and the Indian army, having been nearly surrounded during the battle, suffered prodigious loss in the defeat. Baber judged from observation that 15,000 or 16,000 lay. dead on the field, of whom 5,000 or 6,000 lay in one spot around their king. The Indians reported that not less than 40,000 perished in the battle and pursuit. This action does not give a high idea of the military char- acter of either party. It lasted from soon after sunrise till noon, during which period, Baber observes, with satisfaction, that his guns were discharged many times to good purpose.31 The service of artillery would not in that age have been much better in Europe ; but although Baber's plan of harassing the enemy's flanks and rear with arrows seems to be justified by its success, it does not appear remarkable either for skill or 30 His son Ghazi Khan fled, and Baber remarks that one of his pieces Baber took possession of his library, played remarkably well ; " the first in which he found a number of valu- day it was discharged eight times, the able books. One would have thought second sixteen times, and the same the Koran a sufficient library for an rate continued for three or four days." Afghan chief of those days. (Erskine, vol. i. p. 486.) — ED.] 31 [In a later series of skirmishes, VI. 3 BABER 413 spirit, or likely to have been carried on with impunity against an active enemy. Delhi was surrendered, and Baber advanced and took possession of Agra, which had lately been the royal residence. From a list of Ibrahim's nobles, given by Ferishta, they appear all to have been of the Afghan tribes of Lodi or Lohani, or of that called Fermali, who were mixed with the Afghans like the Khiljis, if indeed they are not a portion of the latter people. The raja 32 of Gwalior, who was reduced to submission during the last reign, accompanied Ibrahim's army, and fell along with him in the battle. Baber reviews his own conquest with much complacency, and compares it to those of Sultan Mahmud and Shahab ud din ; and although we must not confound the acquisition of the few distracted provinces held by Ibrahim with the sub- jugation of India, yet it must be admitted that his enterprise was as glorious in its achievement as it was memorable in its effects. His force seemed insufficient even to occupy the territory he had to subdue, and it was drawn with difficulty from his own dominions, still threatened by the Uzbeks, whose power the combined force of the whole House of Tamerlane had proved unable to withstand. Baber 's conduct to the places where he met with resistance was as inhuman as that of Tamerlane, who was naturally his model. The smallness of his force was some justification of the means he took to strike a terror, but the invariable practice of his country is the best palliation for him. His natural disposition was remarkably humane ; and although we cannot help being shocked at these occurrences, and at two or three cruel executions mentioned in his memoirs, yet they prove no more against his personal character in this respect than his slaughtering Gauls or crucifying pirates against Caesar's clemency. Baber was the founder of a line of kings under whom India rose to the highest pitch of prosperity, and out of the ruins of whose empire all the existing states in that country are composed. 32 IbnBatuta,p. 133, BOOK VII FROM THE CONQUEST OF BABER TO THE ACCESSION OF AKBER HOUSE OP TIMUR CHAPTER I REIGN OF BABER A.D. 1526, A.H. 933— A.D 1530, A.H. 937 Descent and early life of Baber — His wars and adventures in his youth — He is driven out of Transoxiana — Acquires the kingdom of Cabul — His views on India — Baber's proceedings after his victory over Ibrahim, A.D. 1526, A.H. 933 — Discontent of his troops — His war with Sanga, rana of Mewar — Battle of Sikri ; victory of Baber, March 16, A.D. 1527 ; Jamada's Sani 13, A.H. 933 — Settlement of the country — Siege of Chanderi, A.D. 1528, A.H. 934 — Afghan insurrection — Defeat of the king of Bengal, May, 1529 — Sickness of Baber — Intrigues regarding the succession — Death of Baber, Dec. 26, A.D. 1530 ; A.H. 937 — His character. THE early life of Baber 1 was a tissue of surprising vicissitudes and romantic adventures.2 He was the sixth in descent from Tamerlane. The extensive dominions of his grandfather, Abusaid, were shared by the numerous sons of that monarch. One of them, Ahmed Mirza, obtained Samarcand and Bok- hara ; Balkh (or Bactria) fell to another, Mahmud Mirza ; and Cabul to a third, whose name was Ulugh Beg. Omar Shekh Mirza, the fourth son, and the father of Baber, had at first been in charge of Cabul ; but was transferred during his father's lifetime to Ferghana,3 on the upper course of the Jaxartes, a small but rich and beautiful country, of which Baber always speaks with fondness. The mother of Baber was a Mogul, the sister of Mahmud Khan, a descendant of Chaghatai Khan, and head of his branch of the empire of 1 [His real name was Zahir ud din Muhammad ; Baber " the lion " was his Tartar sobriquet. — ED.] 2 The account of Baber is taken from his own Memoirs, translated by Mr. Erskine. It differs, in some respects, from that given by Ferishta. [Mr. Erskine subsequently published a history of the reigns of Baber and Humayun in two volumes, which ma'y be said to have fully and finally elucidated this part of Muhammadan Indian history. — ED.] 3 [Now Kokan. — ED.] 414 VII. 1 BABER'S EARLIER EXPERIENCES 415 Chengiz Khan, This connexion does not seem to have inspired any attachment on the part of Baber towards the Mogul nation, of whom he never speaks in his memoirs but with contempt and aversion.4 Baber was only twelve years old at the death of his father and his own accession (A.D. 1494). Omar Shekh Mirza had just been involved in a war with his brother, Ahmed Mirza,. of Samarcand, and his brother-in-law, Mahmud Khan, the Mogul ; and those princes showed no disposition to relent in favour of their youthful nephew. They, however, failed entirely in an attack on his capital, and shortly after Ahmed Mirza died. He was succeeded by his brother, the king of Bactria. He also died soon after, and was succeeded by his son, Baisanghar Mirza. Confusions ensued, and Baber was induced to attempt the conquest of Samarcand for himself. Though he had for some time conducted his own government he was as yet only fifteen ; and considering that circumstance, together with the insignificance of his means, it is much less surprising that he more than once failed in this undertaking, than that his spirit and perseverance were at last rewarded with success (A.D. 1497). The possession of the capital of Tamerlane, which seemed a step to the sovereignty of all Transoxiana, proved in itself to be more than Baber had strength to maintain. The country of Samarcand was exhausted by long disorders, and afforded no means of paying his troops, who, in consequence, began to desert in great numbers. They spread their discontent among those left in Ferghana, and at last openly revolted, under Ahmed Tambol, one of Baber's principal leaders, in the name of his younger brother, Jeharigir Mirza. Such a rebellion at home allowed no time for delay, and Baber left Samarcand, after a reign of a hundred days : on his departure the inhabitants immediately threw off their obedience to him. An unfortunate illness, which he with difficulty survived, so retarded his opera- tions, that, by the time he had abandoned Samarcand, he found he had lost his hereditary dominions. On this he had recourse to his Mogul uncle, and, sometimes with slender aid from him, but oftener with his own resources alone, he made various attempts, not without partial success, both on "Under these circumstances," which he detested." (Erskine's Bd- observes Mr. Erskine, " it may seem/' ber, p. 236.) [Cf. the passage quoted one of the strangest caprices of for- in p. 382.] The reason is, that the tune, that the empire which .he Indians call all northern Mussulmans, founded in India should have been except the Afghans, Moguls : they called, both in the country and by now apply the term particularly to foreigners, the empire of the Moguls ; the Persians, thus taking its name from a race 416 THE UZBEKS Samarcand and Ferghana. At length, in 1499, he succeeded in recovering his native kingdom ; but he had not entirely subdued the rebels, when he was tempted by strong invitations from Samarcand to set out for that capital. Before he reached his destination, he learned that both Samarcand and Bokhara were occupied by the Uzbeks, then founding the dominion which they still possess over Transoxiana.5 Meanwhile Tambol had again seized on Ferghana, and Baber was compelled to take refuge in the almost inaccessible mountains to the south of that country. While there he learned that Sheibani Khan, the chief of the Uzbeks, had left Samarcand on an expedition ; and, with characteristic spirit of enterprise, he determined to avail himself of the opportunity to attempt to surprise that city. He set off with only 240 men ; escaladed the walls in the night, overpowered the guards, and magnified the impression of his numbers, by boldness and rapidity, until the citizens rose in his favour, and massacred the Uzbeks wherever they were to be found. Sheibani Khan hastened back on this intelligence, but found the gates shut against him, and ultimately withdrew to Bokhara. The whole of Sogdiana now declared for Baber. He re- mained for six months in quiet possession, and employed the interval in endeavours to form a combination among the neighbouring princes, by impressing them with a sense of their danger from the Uzbeks. His exertions were fruitless, and he was obliged to encounter alone the whole power of Shei- bani. The hopes of success, which even then he continued to cherish, were frustrated by the baseness of some Mogul auxi- liaries, who left the battle for the purpose of plundering his baggage. The consequence was a total defeat, and Baber was obliged to retire, with the few troops that adhered to him, within the walls of Samarcand. He resolved to defend that place to the last extremity, and repelled various assaults that were made on him by the Uzbeks. Sheibani had then recourse to a blockade, and in four months reduced his enemies to all the miseries of famine. The inhabitants perished in great numbers ; the soldiers let themselves down from the walls, and deserted ; and Baber, who had shared in all the privations of the people, was compelled at last to evacuate the town. 5 The Uzbeks (so called from one lix., Ix.) [They embraced Muham- of their khans) were a mass of tribes madanism, under their chief, Uzbek of Turki, Mogul, and probably of Khan, about 1340. They had re- Fennic origin, moulded into one ceived a great defeat from the father people, but with a great preponder- of Mahmud Khan, in 1473, but they ance of Turks. They had before been were now reunited under Sheibani, settled on the Jaik, and had been in whom Mahmud Khan had made his possession of a large tract in Siberia. governor in Turkistan. — ED.] (Erskine's Baber, Introduction, pp. VII. 1 BABER'S DARK DAYS 417 After this he spent nearly two years in the utmost poverty and distress, sometimes in the mountains, and oftener in his uncle's camp, where he remained in such a state of destitution that his very servants left him from absolute want. He seems to have been almost reduced to despondency by his repeated misfortunes, and once resolved to withdraw to China, and pass his life in obscurity and retirement. Occasional openings in Ferghana served to keep alive his hopes ; and at length, with the help of his uncle, he recovered the capital,6 and was joined by his brother Jehangir, who had hitherto been his nominal rival. Tambol, in this strait, called in the formidable aid of the Uzbeks. Baber was overpowered, compelled to fly, after a desperate conflict in the street, and so hotly pursued that his companions, one by one, fell into the hands of the enemy, and his own horse was so much exhausted that he was overtaken by two of Tambol's soldiers. They endeavoured to persuade him to surrender ; and Baber, while he kept up the parley, continued to push on towards the mountains. At length he thought he had succeeded, by arguments and entreaties, in bringing over the pursuers to his interest, and they took a solemn oath to share his fortunes ; but whether they were originally insincere, or lost heart when they contemplated the prospect before them, they ended by betraying Baber to his enemies, and it was with the utmost difficulty that he again recovered his freedom. He only escaped to a condition almost as hopeless as captivity. His uncle's Mogul army had been defeated by Sheibani, and himself made prisoner ; while the whole of Transoxiana, except that annexed to Bactria, fell into the hands of the Uzbeks. All his prospects being thus extin- guished, Baber bade a last farewell to his native country of Ferghana, and set out to try his fortune in new scenes beyond the range of the Hindu Gush. After all that he had done and suffered (enough to fill up an eventful life), Baber was yet only in his twenty-third year. He bore his numerous reverses with the elasticity of youth. He himself tells us that he often shed many tears, and composed many melancholy verses : but in general his cheerful temper buoyed him up, and enabled him to enjoy the present, and to entertain favourable prospects of the future. He says he never had more perfect pleasure than for a few days after he evacuated Samarcand, when he first got a full meal, a quiet night's rest, and a temporary freedom from labour and anxiety. He had often similar moments of enjoyment, thanks to his sociable habits and his relish for simple pleasures. He pauses, 6 [Andejan was the chief town of Ferghana, but Baber's father had made Akhsi his capital. — ED.] E E 418 KING OF CABUL in relating one of his desperate expeditions, to describe a particular sort of melon with which he had been struck : if ever he had an interval of rest, he was occupied with plants and gardening ; and during all his marches, in peace or war, flowers and trees and cheerful landscapes were never thrown away on him. It may be because others have not opened their hearts as he has done, but there certainly is no person in Asiatic history into whose tastes and feelings we can enter as into Baber's. Bactria was now in the hands of Khusrou Shah, a favourite of Baber's late uncle, and afterwards minister to his cousin, Baisanghar Mirza, the same whom he had driven out of Samar- cand. Khusrou Shah had since murdered his master, and was in possession of what remained of his dominions. He en- deavoured to conciliate Baber, and received him with a show of hospitality when he entered his territory. His professions arose from a sense of his own insecurity ; it was not long ere all the Moguls in his employment proffered their services to Baber ; and, before they had openly declared themselves, Khusrou's own brother, Bald, came over to the same side, and was followed by the whole of the army. When Baber ap- proached Khusrou's frontier he had between two and three hundred followers, many of them armed with clubs ; and only two tents, the best of which was allotted to his mother. He now set out to invade Cabul, at the head of a regular and well-equipped army. His uncle, Ulugh Beg, the king of that country, had expired two years before ; his son and successor had been expelled by his minister ; and he, in his turn, had been dispossessed by the Mogul or Turki family of Arghun, who had been for some time in possession of Candahar. Baber occupied Cabul almost without opposition (A.D. 1504) ; and, regarding the original owner as completely ejected, he took possession in his own name, and subsequently resisted an attempt of his cousin to regain his inheritance. He afterwards lost Bactria, which was recovered by Khusrou Shah, and ultimately conquered by the Uzbeks. Baber's connexion with the country beyond the mountains was therefore entirely cut off. He was now king of Cabul, over which country he reigned for twenty-two years before his conquest of India, and which was enjoyed by his descendants till the end of the seventeenth century. But though Baber had gained a fixed establishment, he was by no means in a state of repose. He had, in fact, only changed the character of his toils and perils. He was still threatened from without, by an enemy who had hitherto proved irresis- tible ; and within, a great part of his territory was in the hands VII. 1 REPEATED INSURRECTIONS 419 of independent tribes, and so strong that he could not hope to subdue it, while part of the rest was possessed by personal enemies and rivals. His title was doubtful ; he had no minister whom he could trust ; his brother Jehangir had but lately joined him, after having been long in rebellion ; and his army was an assemblage of adventurers, strangers to him, and traitors to their former masters. His first years were spent in the conquest of Candahar, in expeditions into the mountains of the Afghans and Hazarehs, and in a dangerous journey to Herat, to concert measures with that branch of the House of Tamerlane for their common defence against the Uzbeks. On these occasions he underwent the usual risks and more than the usual hardships of war, and had once nearly perished in the snow, during a winter march through the mountains of the Hazarehs. In this period his brother Jehangir revolted (A.D. 1506), but was subdued and pardoned : a more serious insurrection took place while he was at Herat, when his Mogul troops set up one of his cousins as king, who was also defeated and pardoned (A.D. 1507) ; and he was afterwards brought to the brink of ruin by a conspiracy of the Moguls, who had come over from Khursou Shah. These men, from two to three thousand in number, gave the first sign of their disaffection by an attempt to seize Baber's person ; and when he had escaped, and fled from Cabul, they called in Abd ur Razzak, the son of Ulugh Beg, whom Baber had supplanted in the government (A.D. 1508). The right of this young man had probably little influence, for all the princes of the house of Tamerlane seemed to consider that conqueror's dominions as a common prize, from which each might take what share he could : his strength lay in the connexions he possessed in a country where his father had reigned, and those were so powerful that Baber found himself deserted by the whole of his troops, except about 500 men. A moment's despondency at this crisis would have been fatal, but Baber made up for his small force by the boldness and activity of his enterprises ; he led his troops to repeated encounters, exposed himself in the hottest of every engagement, and, almost entirely by his personal courage and exertions, at last retrieved his affairs.7 His most important wars were with his old enemies the Uzbeks. Sheibani Khan, after the conquest of Transoxiana, invaded Khorasan, took Herat, and extinguished the principal r Mr. Erskine, from Khafi Khan some years. The intervening portion and Ferishta. Baber's Memoirs seems never to have been written, break off in the beginning of the (Erskine's Baber, p. 23(>.) insurrection, and are not resumed for 420 BABER IN BACTRIA A.D. 1507, A.H. 913 branch of the House of Tamerlane.8 He then advanced to Candahar, and took the city. He was drawn off by distant troubles before he had reduced the citadel ; but left it so weakened that it fell into the hands of its old possessors the Arghuns, who had remained in the neighbourhood, and who now retained it for several years (from A.D. 1507 to 1522). What might have been Baber's fortune if the Uzbeks had continued their progress, it is not easy to surmise. It is possible he might have shared the fate of so many princes of his family, had not Sheibani Khan encountered a new enemy, whose success put a stop to the career of Tartar conquest. This was Shah Ismail Safavi, king of Persia, with whom Shei- bani went to war about this time, and by whom he was totally defeated and slain (A.D. 1510). His death opened a new field to Baber, or rather recalled him to that which had been the scene of his earliest exploits. He immediately occupied Bactria, made an alliance with Shah Ismail, and, with the aid of a Persian force, took Bokhara, and again obtained possession of Samarcand (A.D. 1511). But he was destined never to be long successful in Trans- oxiana : before the end of a twelvemonth he was driven out of Samarcand by the Uzbeks ; and although he maintained the contest, with the support of the Persians, for two years longer, yet he at last suffered a total defeat, and lost all his acquisitions except Bactria 9 (A.D. 1514). 10 It was after this failure that he turned his serious attention to India, and began those enterprises, the result of which has already been related. After the capture of Agra, Baber's first act was to distribute the captured treasures to his adherents. He gave his son Humayun a diamond, which was esteemed one of the finest in the world ; and he sent a present of a shahrukhi each to every man, woman, and child, slave or free, in the country of Cabul.11 8 [The great sultan, Husaiii Mirza of Candahar, by a capitulation ; and Baikara, had died in 1506 ; his sons Shah Beg Arghun establishes himself were quite unfit for the emergency, in Upper Sind, Jam Firiiz, the reign- and the whole family were killed or ing king, being confined to Lower driven into exile. In 1507 Sheibani Sind. The capital of the former is had conquered Samarcand, Ferghana, Bheker, that of the latter Tatta. His Hissar, Kharizrn, and Khorasan, and son, Shah Hasan Arghun, adds Lower ruled from beyond the Jaxartes to Sind to his previous dominions ; and the Hindu Kush. — ED.] the Arghun dynasty holds Sind until 9 [Balkh was held by the king of Akber's time. — ED.] Persia. Baber had Kunduz, and his 11 The shahrukhi is only lOd. or cousin Mirza Khan held Badakhshan lid., but the whole sum must have under him. Erskine, vol. i. p. 424. been very great ; and this injudicious — ED.] expenditure justifies the nickname of 10 [In 1522, Baber gains possession " the Kalandar," given to him at the VII. 1 SUCCESS OF BABER 421 But although in possession of the capital, Baber was far from having conquered the kingdom. He only occupied the part to the north-west of Delhi, with a narrow tract along the Jumna to Agra. The whole of the country to the east of the Ganges had become independent, in Ibrahim's time, under Derya Khan Lohani. His son took the title of king, by the name of Mohammed Shah Lohani, and seems to have possessed Behar on both sides of the Ganges. Many places on the west of the Jumna had also been in rebellion in Ibrahim's time, and many of those which had been obedient now held out, under the Afghan and Fermali chiefs belonging to the late govern- ment. Nor was this the only opposition with which Baber had to contend : a strong dislike and hostility at first subsisted between his troops and the Indians ; the villages round his camp were deserted, and it became a matter of great difficulty to procure grain or forage for the army. In addition to this, the summer, always nearly intolerable to natives of cold countries, was in that year unusually oppressive, and so affected his troops that all ranks began to murmur, and at length to clamour to be led back to Cabul : some even made preparations for returning without leave. On this Baber assembled the officers, and pointed out to them that, as the conquest of India had long been the great object of their labours, it would be weakness and disgrace to abandon it, now that it was achieved ; that he, therefore, was determined to remain in India ; that all who chose to return were at liberty to do so at once, but that henceforth he would hear of no remonstrances against his resolution. This address induced the greater part to give up their discontents. Khaja Kilan, however, one of the best and most confidential chiefs, was among those that decided to return, and was accordingly appointed to a government beyond the Indus, and dismissed with honour to his new charge. The determination so strongly expressed had an effect even on the enemy ; and many, who had hitherto expected Baber to withdraw, as Tamerlane had done, now made their submission ; detachments were sent to reduce others ; and, in the course of the next four months, not only had the country held by Sultan Ibrahim been secured, but all the revolted provinces ever possessed by the house of Lodi, including the former kingdom of Jounpur, were brought into subjection by an army under Prince Humayun, Baber's eldest son. time, from a religious order, whose erous ; for after he once got Cabul, practice it is to keep nothing for to- we hear of no financial embarrass- morrow. He could not always have ments. been so profuse, though always gen- 422 WAR WITH SANGA A.D. 1526, A.H. 932 The last places which submitted were Biana, Dhulpur on the Chambal, and Gwalior beyond that river. After he had thus been acknowledged by all the Mussul- mans, Baber had to commence a war with the Hindus, who, contrary to their usual practice, were on this occasion the aggressors. Hamir Sing, the Rajput prince who recovered Chitor in the reign of Ala ud din Khilji (A.D. 1316), had, in the course of a long reign, re-established the Rajput dominion over all Me war, to which his son had added Ajmir.12 After the separation of Malwa from Delhi, the new kings of that country were engaged in frequent hostilities with the rajas of Mewar ; and, immedi- ately before the time of Baber, Mahmud, king of Malwa, had been defeated and taken prisoner by Sanga, the Rajput prince 1S (A.D. 1519). Sanga, the sixth in succession from Hamir, possessed all the hereditary dominions of Mewar, and likewise held the eastern part of Malwa, as far as Bhilsa and Chanderi,14 in dependence. He was recognized as their leader by the rajas of Marwar and Jeipur, and all the other Rajput princes.15 Being a natural enemy to the king of Delhi, he had opened a friendly communication with Baber while he was advancing against Ibrahim ; and for the same reason he began to form combinations against him, as soon as he found him established in the former position of that prince. Besides his Hindu allies, Sanga was on this occasion accompanied by Mahmud, a prince of the house of Lodi,16 who had assumed the title of king, and, though possessed of no territory, was followed by 10,000 adhe- rents. The Lodi chiefs formerly driven out by Humayun also returned to their former possessions, or raised men in other places to co-operate with the raja. Great efforts were made on both sides to secure the alliance of Hasan Khan, raja of Mewat, who, by his name, must have been a converted Hindu. His territory is that hilly tract extending towards the river Chambal, from within twenty-five miles of Delhi, and including the petty state which is now called Macheri or Alwar. The son of this chief being a hostage in Baber 's hands, he adopted the liberal policy of sending him to his father, as the true way to gain his sincere co-operation. His generosity did not make the desired impression, for Hasan Khan was no sooner set at ease about his son than he openly joined the enemy. Raja Sanga immediately advanced to support his ally, and 12 Colonel Tod's Rajasthdna, vol. i. 1S Colonel Tod, vol. i. p. 299. p. 274. 16 [A brother of the late Sultan 13 Briggs's Ferishta, vol. iv. p. 261. Ibrahim. — ED.] 14 Briber's Memoirs, p. 312. VII. 1 THE ASTROLOGER'S PROPHECY 423 soon arrived at Biana, within fifty miles of Agra. He drove the garrison of that place, with loss, into their fort, and cut off all communication between them and the capital. Baber, on this, sent forward a detachment to observe the enemy, and soon after moved out with all his forces. He had reached Sikri,17 about twenty miles from Agra, when he found himself in the neighbourhood of the Hindu army. His advanced guard was immediately attacked, and, though reinforced from the main body, was defeated with heavy loss. If the raja had pressed on during the first panic, it is probable he would have obtained an easy victory ; he chose to withdraw to his encamp- ment after his success, and thus allowed Baber ample time to take up a position and to fortify his camp, so as to make it a difficult matter to assail him. Baber 's troops had looked on this contest in a very serious light from the first ; and the reports of fugitives, together with the disaster which had taken place almost before their eyes, had made a very deep impression on them ; when, by ill-luck, a celebrated astrologer arrived from Cabul, and loudly an- nounced, from the aspect of Mars, the certain defeat of the king's army, which happened to be in the quarter opposite to that planet. The consternation occasioned by these real and imaginary terrors was so general, that even the officers of the highest rank were infected, lost all courage and decision in council, and could scarcely even maintain an appearance of firmness before their men. Baber's Indian troops began to desert ; some of them went over to the enemy ; and the rest of the army, though faithful, was completely dispirited and alarmed. Baber himself, though he despised the prediction of the astrologer, was not insensible to the dangers of his situation : he tells us that he repented of his sins, forswore wine, and gave away his gold and silver drinking-vessels to the poor ; he also made a vow to let his beard grow, and promised to remit the stamp-tax on all Mussulmans, if it should please God to give him victory. But he was too much used to danger to be depressed ; and that he might infuse some of his own spirit into his troops, he assembled his officers of all ranks, and without touching on the usual topics of necessity, or of spoil and conquests, — scarcely even on that of religion, — he made a direct appeal to their sense of honour, and set the chance of glory against the risk of death. His theme seems to have been well chosen, for the whole assembly answered him with one voice, and accompanied their acclamations with an oath on the Koran to conquer or die. This scene revived the courage of the army ; and, as every day brought in accounts 17 Now Fattehpur Sikri. 424 BATTLE OF SIKRI A.D. 1527, A.H. 033 of some fresh disorder in the provinces, Baber determined no longer to avoid an action, but to bring things to an immediate crisis. With this view, he drew up his army in front of his entrenchments, and after arranging his guns, and making his other preparations, he galloped along the line from right to left, animating his soldiers by short addresses, and instructing the officers how to conduct themselves in the battle. The Hindus, it appears, were equally ready for a decisive effort ; but so anxious is Baber to do justice to the great occasion, that, instead of his own account of the action, he gives us the elaborate despatch of his secretary, from which we can barely discover, in many pages of flowery declamation, that Baber gained a great victory, that Raja Sanga escaped with difficulty, and that Hasan Khan and many other chiefs were slain. Baber (to return to his own narrative) could now relieve his heart by a torrent of abuse against the astrologer, who came to con- gratulate him on his victory, and whom he inveighed against as a perverse, conceited, and insufferable evil-speaker : he was an old servant, however, and Baber made him a liberal present, while he desired him to quit his dominions. After this victory Baber proceeded to reduce Mewat, and brought it into greater order than it ever had been in under the former government. Having promised, before the great battle, that he would allow any one who pleased leave of absence to Cabul, he formed all who desired to avail themselves of that permission into a detachment, and sent them back under the command of Humayun. He spent the next six months in internal arrangements, and restoring order throughout the provinces that had been disturbed during the doubtful period of his contest with Raja Sanga ; and by the end of the year his authority was every- where re-established, except in Oudh, beyond the Ganges. A body of Afghans still remained in arms in that province, and a detachment had been sent against them. About the beginning of the next year Baber marched against Chanderi on the borders of Bundelcand and Malwa. It was held by Medni Rai, a Rajput chief who had risen to great power under Mahmud II., king of Malwa. He had afterwards usurped the government ; and, on being expelled by Mahmud with the aid of the king of Guzerat, established himself at Chanderi, under the protection of Raja Sanga. He had made good his retreat after the late battle, and now offered a desperate resistance. But the Rajputs, as usual, showed more valour than skill or perseverance. On the second day of the siege they gave up all for lost, and Baber witnessed one of those extraordinary instances of self-devotion which are so VII. 1 AFGHAN INSURRECTION 425 common in Rajput history. His troops had already mounted the works, when the garrison put their women to death, and rushed forth naked, not to conquer, but to die. They drove the Mussulmans before them, leaped from the ramparts, and continued their charge with unabated fury until they were overpowered and destroyed : 200 or 300 had remained to defend Medni Rai's house, most of whom slew each other, each contending who should be the first victim. During the siege of Chanderi, Baber received intelligence of the defeat of his detachment in Oudh by an Afghan chief named Baban, or Biban, and immediately marched himself in that direction. The Afghans having taken post at the passage of the Ganges, Baber threw a bridge over the river, under the fire of his artillery, and ultimately compelled the enemy to retire beyond the Gogra, whither he marched in pur- suit of them. He seems to have compelled the rebels to take refuge in the territories of the king of Bengal, and it was probably on this occasion that he reduced Behar, if that was not done before by Humayun : but in this place there is an interruption in the Memoirs, which is not filled up by any other historian. For some months after this Baber seems to have been in bad health, and to have indulged in a longer course of relaxation than often fell to his lot. His Memoirs (which are now re- sumed) are filled with descriptions of Hindu forts and temples, and of fountains and cascades that he had visited ; as well as of his own gardens and improvements, and of the jugglers, wrestlers, and other sources of amusement peculiar to India. Even during this period he made the important acquisition of the fort of Rintambor : it was made over to him by the second son of Raja Sanga, that prince having died, and having been succeeded by the eldest son. His attention was at last effectually roused by the intelli- gence that the province of Behar had been seized on by Sultan Mahmud, the same Lodi prince who had been present at the defeat of Raja Sanga. Mahmud seems to have been supported from Bengal ; and, being joined by the Afghans in Behar and the adjoining provinces, his army soon swelled to such an extent as to be called 100,000 men. With this force he had advanced to Benares, by the time when Baber reached the junction of the Jumna and Ganges, now Allahabad. The approach of Baber, however, dissolved this hasty assemblage, which was already a prey to dissension.18 They had attempted 18 [There were many partisans in Lohani and Lodi factions in the east- favour of Jalal ud din Lohani, the ern provinces were fatal to the na- son of Muhammad Shah Lohani. tional interest of the Afghans." — ED.] Erskine says, " the feuds between the 426 ILLNESS OF BABER A.D. 1529, A.H. 936 to storm the hill-fort of Chunar ; and a repulse they met with, though not in itself considerable, was sufficient, in the present state of their minds, to break up the army. Mahmud retreated with such portion as he could keep together. He took up a position behind the river Son (Soane), and many of the chiefs who had quitted him made their submission to Baber. Baber continued his advance ; and Mahmud, finding it in vain to oppose him, sought for safety in flight. All Behar south of the Ganges was now in Baber's hands ; North Behar was still in possession of the king of Bengal, who had a considerable army on foot in that quarter. His object appears to have been to have retained that portion of the Delhi territories without quarrelling with the possessor of the rest ; and he kept an ambassador in Baber's camp, to amuse him with negotiations, until Baber lost patience, crossed the Ganges, and advanced against the Bengalese army. He had still to pass the river Gogra, on which the enemy were encamped, near its junction with the Ganges. He was, however, well provided with boats, and drove away those of the Bengalese, which might otherwise have obstructed his passage. The Bengalese then moved down to oppose his crossing, and a cannonade was kept up on both sides. As Baber's divisions landed in succession, they charged the different parties opposed to them, and at last drove the enemy from the field. Soon after this the king of Bengal consented to terms of peace. Baber wras preparing to return to Agra, when he heard that a body of Afghans, who had separated from the Bengal army, under Baban and another chief, named Bayazid, had crossed the Gogra, and taken Lucknow. He immediately marched in that direction, and, on the retreat of the Afghans, sent a detachment in pursuit of them. It followed them across the Ganges and Jumna, and had completely dispersed them in Bundelcand, when the setting-in of the rainy season put an end to all operations. For the last fifteen months of his life Baber's health seems to have been greatly broken : the silence of his diary gives a proof of his diminished activity, and some circumstances lead to a belief that his authority began to be weakened by the prospect of its speedy cessation. Humayun left his govern- ment of Badakhshan without leave, and Khalifa, Baber's prime minister, on being selected to replace him, found means to excuse himself and remain at court. Notwithstanding Humayun's unlooked-for return, he was affectionately re- ceived ; and a dangerous illness, with which he was soon after attacked, was the immediate cause of the death of Baber. When it was announced to him that the physicians had VII. 1 TREACHERY OF KHALIFA 427 given over all their efforts, declaring that medicine could no longer avail, Baber seized on the only hope that remained, and, in conformity with a superstition which still prevails in the East, he determined to devote his own life for that of his son. His friends, who had as little doubt of the efficacy of this substitution as he had himself, entreated him to forbear from a sacrifice involving the happiness of so many ; but Baber 's resolution was unmoved. He walked three times round the bed of the dying prince (a solemnity usual on such occasions), and then spent some moments in earnest prayer to God ; at the end of which he was filled with such assurance, that he more than once exclaimed, " I have borne it away — I have borne it away ! ' And so powerful was the impression, both on his mind and his son's, that all the historians agree that Humayun began from that time to recover ; while it is certain that Baber, who was already ill, and whose health must have been severely shaken by his anxiety and agitation, began visibly to decline. It soon became evident that his end was approaching. He called his sons and ministers about him, explained his dying wishes, and enjoined concord among all, and affection among his children. But Khalifa, his minister— whose influence, for some unexplained reason, was at that time irresistible, — had already resolved to overturn the dearest of his plans. Desirous of keeping power in his own hands, he determined to set aside Baber's own sons, and to give the crown to his son-in-law, Mehdi Khaja, a young man whose thoughtless and flighty disposition made it seem easy to keep him in per- petual dependence.19 Mehdi Khaja was at no pains to un- deceive him in these expectations, and was now considered, by himself and others, as assured of the succession the moment that Baber should breathe his last. As that moment ap- proached, however, he was suddenly seized by Khalifa, put into confinement, and cut off from all communication with those around. The cause of this revolution is explained in a narrative referred to by Mr. Erskine, which is given on the authority of Mohammed Mokim, the father of the author. Khalifa, it seems, was on a visit to Mehdi Khaja, with no person present but Mokim : he was suddenly summoned to Baber, who lay at the last extremity. Mehdi Khaja attended him with great respect to the door, and stood looking after him, so that Mokim could not follow without pushing by him. 9 Khalifa was one of Baber's old Equally extraordinary does it seem officers ; but it is not easy to conjee- that, from this time forward, he ture how he could acquire so inordi- disappears, and is not mentioned in nate a power under so able a sovereign Ferishta or Abul Fazl, either under as Baber, and with an experienced his own name of Khalifa or his title heir-apparent like Humayun. of Nizam ud din. 428 DEATH OF BABER A.D. 1530, A.H. 937 " As soon as Khalifa was fairly gone, he muttered to himself, ' God willing, I will soon flay your hide off, old boy ! ' and, turning round at the same instant, saw my father. He was quite confounded ; but immediately seizing my father's ear, with a convulsive eagerness, twisted it round, and said, hurriedly, ' You, Tajik ! the red tongue often gives the green head to the winds.' Mokim lost no time in apprising Khalifa of what had passed ; and the result was, his immediately trans- ferring his allegiance to Humayun. In the midst of these intrigues, with which he was probably unacquainted, Baber expired, — the most admirable, though not the most powerful, prince that ever reigned in Asia. He died at Agra, in the fiftieth year of his age, and the thirty-eighth of his reign.20 His body was buried, by his own desire, at Cabul, and on a spot which it is probable that he had himself selected.21 Baber's character is best shown in his actions, but some- thing remains to be said of his private life and his writings. His Memoirs are almost singular in their own nature, and perfectly so if we consider the circumstances of the writer. They contain a minute account of the life of a great Tartar monarch, along with a natural effusion of his opinions and feelings, free from disguise and reserve, and no less free from all affectation of extreme frankness and candour.22 The style is plain and manly, as well as lively and pictur- esque ; and being the work of a man of genius and observa- tion, it presents his countrymen and contemporaries, in their appearance, manners, pursuits, and actions, as clearly as in a mirror. In this respect it is almost the only specimen of real history in Asia ; for the ordinary writers, though they give pompous accounts of the deeds and ceremonies of the 20 [At his death, his dominions resort of the people of Cabul. In the included, beyond the Hindu Kush, front of the grave is a small but Badakhshan and Kunduz, and all the chaste mosque of white marble. . . . districts to the south of the Oxus, as There is a noble prospect from the low down as the borders of Balkh. hill that overlooks Baber's tomb," To the south of the mountains he had etc., etc. (Burnes' Travels, vol. i. Cabul, Ghazni, and Kandahar, but p. 141.) most of the mountainous region of 22 In this last respect they are Afghanistan was only nominally a contrast to those of Tamerlane, subject. In India he held the Pan- which, with all their simplicity of jab, and all Hindustan between the language, are evidently written for Himalaya and Rajputana ; and most effect. " One day, having uninten- of Behar owned his authority. tionally trodden on an ant, I felt as (Erskine, vol. i. p. 527.) — ED.] if my foot had lost all its power." 21 " He had directed his body to be (Memoirs of Timur, p. 30.) Who interred in this place, to him the can imagine this to be natural, even choicest in his wide dominions. ... if the author had been a Bramin A running and clear stream yet ascetic instead of the most sanguinary waters the fragrant flowers of the of conquerors ? cemetery, which is the great holiday VII. 1 HIS MEMOIRS 429 great, are apt to omit the lives and manners even of that class, while everything beneath their level is left entirely out of sight. In Baber the figures, dress, tastes, and habits of each individual introduced are described with such minuteness and reality that we seem to live among them, and to know their persons as well as we do their characters.23 His descriptions of the countries he visited, their scenery, climate, productions, and works of art and industry, are more full and accurate than will, perhaps, be found, in equal space, in any modern traveller ; and, considering the circumstances in which they were compiled, are truly surprising.24 But the great charm of the work is in the character of the author, whom we find, after all the trials of a long life, retaining the same kind and affectionate heart, and the same easy and sociable temper, with which he set out on his career ; and in whom the possession of power and grandeur had neither blunted the delicacy of his taste nor diminished the sensibility to the enjoyment of nature and imagination. "It is a relief," says his translator, " in the midst of the pompous coldness of Asiatic history, to find a king who can weep for days, and tell us that he wept for the playmate of his boyhood." He speaks with as much interest of his mother and female relations as if he had never quitted their fireside, and his friends make almost as great a figure in the personal part of his narrative as he does himself. He repeats their sayings, records their accidents and illnesses, relates their adventures, and sometimes jokes on their eccentricities. After a letter, on the affairs of his government, to his most confidential counsellor, Khaja Kilan (then at Cabul), he tells him little anecdotes of their common acquaintances, which he thinks will amuse him, and adds, " For God's sake excuse all these fooleries, and do not think the worse of me for them ! ' He endeavours afterwards to persuade Khaja Kilan to leave off wine, as he had done ; and says in substance, " Drinking was a very pleasant thing with our old friends and companions ; but now that you have only Shir Ahmed and Heider Kuli to take your wine with, it can be no great sacrifice to leave it off." In the same letter, he says how much he envies his friend his 23 These portraits, however, are life, with which he must necessarily necessarily confined to the inhabi- have been unacquainted, tants of the courts and camps where 24 Compare his descriptions of the Baber passed his days ; in the coun- countries through which he fought tries which he has so well delineated, his way with those of Ibn Batuta, he only gives such remarkable par- himself a writer of remarkable merit, ticulars about the natives as would and a professed traveller and in- strike a stranger, without attempting quirer. Or compare his geography a detailed account of their way of with that of any Asiatic who has written expressly on the science. 430 AN ACTIVE PERSONALITY residence at Cabul, and adds : " They, very recently, brought me a single musk-melon ; 25 while cutting it up, I felt myself affected with a strong feeling of loneliness, and a sense of my exile from my native country, and I could not help shedding tears while I was eating it." It would have been fortunate if Baber had left off wine sooner, for there seems good reason to think his indulgence in it tended to shorten his days. Many a drinking-party is re- corded in his Memoirs, with at least as much interest as his battles or negotiations ; and, unsuitable as they are to his station, they are not the least agreeable scenes in Baber's history. The perfect ease and familiarity among the company makes one forget the prince in the man ; and the temptations that generally lead to those excesses — a shady wood, a hill with a fine prospect, or the idleness of a boat floating down a river- together with the amusements with which they are accompanied —extemporary verses, recitations in Turki and Persian, with sometimes a song, and often a contest of repartee — take away all the coarseness that might attach to such scenes of dissipation. The unsettled nature of his life is shown by his observing, near the end of it, that since he was eleven years old he had never kept the fast of the Ramazan twice in any one place ; and the time not spent in war and travelling was occupied in hunting and other sports, or in long excursions on horseback about the country. On his last journey, after his health had begun to fail, he rode, in two days, from Calpi to Agra (160 miles), without any particular motive for despatch ; and on the same journey he swam twice across the Ganges, as he said he had done with every other river he had met with. His mind was as active as his body ; besides the business of the kingdom, he was constantly taken up with aqueducts, reservoirs, and other improvements, as well as introducing new fruits and other productions of remote countries. Yet he found time to compose many elegant Persian poems and a collection of Turki compositions, which are mentioned as giving him a high rank among the poets of his own country.26 25 This fruit had not then been in- account of the geography of the troduced into India. countries which were the scene of his 26 Almost all that has been said exploits, and the clearest exposition of Baber has been drawn from Mr. of the divisions of the Tartar nations. Erskine's admirable translation of The translation seems to have im- his Memoirs from the Turki. The bibed the very spirit of the original, notes and supplements which accom- The style is singularly happy, strik- pany that work remove the obscuri- ingly characteristic, though perfectly ties, which, without such assistance, natural, and equally remote from the would beset us in every page ; and visual inflated language of the East, the preliminary dissertation gives a and from the imitation of Scriptural complete view of the state of Asia in simplicity into which other trans- Baber's time, and contains the best lators of similar works have fallen. VII. 2 HUMAYUN 431 CHAPTER II FIRST REIGN OF HUMAYUN l A.D. 1530, A.H. 937— A.D. 1543, A.H. 951 Arrangements of the king's brother — Separation of Cabul from India — Afghan insurrections in India, A.D. 1532, A.H. 939 — Disputes with Bahadur Shah, king of Guzerat, A.D. 1532, A.H. 940 — Invasion and conquest of Guzerat — Expulsion of the Moguls from Guzerat, A.D. 1535-6, A.H. 942 — Early life and rise of Shir Khan Sur — He obtains possession of Behar — And conquers Bengal — Humayun marches against him — Military features of Behar and Bengal — Siege of Chunar — Shir Khan's plan -for resisting the invasion — Taking of Gour by Humayun— His difficulties during the rainy season — Active operations of Shir Khan — Retreat of Humayun — Shir Khan assumes the title of king — Intercepts Humayun on his retreat, at Chonsa — Surprises him, and disperses his army, Safar 6, A.H. 946 ; June 26, A.D. 1539 — Second campaign, April, A.D. 1540 ; Zil Caadah, A.H. 946 — Final defeat of Humayun, May 16, A.D. 1540 ; Moharram 10, A.H. 947 — His flight — He arrives at Lahor, July 5, A.D. 1540 ; Rabi al Awwal, A.H. 947— Fails in an attempt on Sind, end of Oct., A.D. 1540; Jamada'l Awwal, A.H. 947 — Seeks refuge in Jodpur ; which is refused — Horrors of his march through the desert — Is hospitably received at Amercot — Birth of Akber — Second attempt on Sind — Humayun consents to retire to Candahar — His dangers in that country — His flight to Persia. BABER left three sons besides Humayun : Camran, Hindal, and Mirza Askari. Camran was governor of Cabul and Candahar, and the other two were unemployed in India. From his having 1 The narrative of the reign of Humayun (where not otherwise speci- fied) is taken from Ferishta, the Memoirs of Humayun, and Abul Fazl. Ferishta is peculiarly defective at this period, which was too remote to admit of his conversing with eye- witnesses, and too recent to allow him to benefit by written histories. The Memoirs are written by a per- son named Jouher, who was a menial servant of Humayun, and whose duty it was to carry a ewer for his master to wash his hands. He was in con- stant attendance on Humayun, and although unacquainted with his political relations and secret designs, was a minute and correct observer of all that came within his reach, and describes what he saw with simplicity and distinctness. He was devoted to Humayun, and anxious to put all his actions in the most favourable light ; but he seldom imagined that anything in his master's conduct re- quired either concealment or apology. Abul Fazl was the well-known minister and favourite of Akber, and was a man of enlarged views and extraordinary talents ; but lie was a prof essed rrhetorician, and is still the model of ^the unnatural style which is so much admired in India ; he was, besides, a most assiduous courtier, eager to extol the virtues, to gloss over the crimes, and to preserve the dignity of his master and those in whom he was interested. His dates and his general statement of events are valuable ; but he requires con- stant attention, not so much to guard against his barefaced partiality, as against the prejudice which he draws on his favourites, by his fawning and fulsome commendations of them, and against the suspicions which he ex- cites by his dishonest way of telling a story, even in cases whore the action related was innocent or excusable. His narrative is florid, feeble, and indistinct, overloaded with common- place reflections and pious effusions, generally ending in a compliment to his patron. In this part of his writ- ings I have generally availed myself of Major Price's History, which, though it^does not profess to be a translation, is often a literal version, and always a full and faithful abstract of the original. 432 AFGHAN INSURRECTIONS A.D. 1532, A.H. 939 assigned no shares to his younger children, it is probable that Baber did not intend to divide the empire ; but Camran showed no disposition to give way to his brother ; and as he was in possession of a strong and warlike country among the hereditary subjects of his family, he had a great advantage over Humayun, who could not assemble an army without evacuating his new and disaffected provinces. In these circumstances, Humayun thought it prudent to yield with a good grace, and give up the Pan jab, and the country on the Indus, in addition to Camran's former territories. At the same time he gave the government of Sambal to Hindal, and that of Mewat to Mirza Askari. By the cession to Camran, Humayun was left to govern a new conquest, while he was deprived of the resources by which it had been gained, and by which it might have been retained ; but as he still possessed Baber's veteran army, and profited by the impression of his power, the effects of the dismemberment did not at first appear. Humayun was engaged in the siege of Calanjer, in Bundel- cand, when he received intelligence that Baban and Bayazid, the Afghan chiefs, whose party was formerly broken up by Baber, were again in rebellion in Jounpur. He defeated and dispersed this assemblage, and then went against the hill-fort of Chunar, near Benares, at that time held by his future rival, Shir Khan. Shir Khan submitted, on condition of retaining the fort, and Humayun returned to Agra. Some time before this period, a brother-in-law of Humayun, who had been engaged in plots against his life and govern- ment, had taken refuge with Bahadur Shah, king of Guzerat ; and the refusal of that monarch to comply with Humayun' s demand for his surrender led to irritation and hostile feelings between the two kings. Bahadur, .whose native kingdom always occupied a high rank among those formed out of the fragments of the empire of Delhi, had lately extended his power much beyond its former limits. The kings of Khandesh, Berar, and Ahmednagar had agreed to do him homage for their crowns ; and he had completely conquered the kingdom of Malwa, and annexed it to his own. While his discussion with Humayun was at its height, Ala ud din, the uncle of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, who acted so con- spicuous a part in the former reign,2 having quitted the resid- ence assigned to him by Baber, in Badakhshan, threw himself on the protection of the king of Guzerat ; and Bahadur, whose family had risen to greatness under the House of Lodi, and 2 [Vide supra, p. 421. Ala ud din wards fell into disgrace, and was con- had a nominal command under Baber fined in a fort in Badakhshan. — ED.] at Panipat and Sikri ; but he after- VII. 2 DISPUTE WITH BAHADUR 433 who had himself found an asylum at the court of Ibrahim —being at once incited by favour for his hereditary patrons, resentment at Humayun, and pride in his own power and prosperity—- was tempted into measures as inconsistent with sound policy as with justice. Without any open declaration of war with Humayun, he liberally supplied Ala ud din with money, and enabled him, in a very short time, to assemble a large force, and to send it against Agra, under his son Tatar Khan. This army, so hastily collected, was as speedily dispersed ; and Tatar Khan fell in battle, at the head of a division which remained faithful in the general desertion. Encouraged by this success, or perhaps in pursuance of plans already determined on, Humayun marched from Agra to revenge the injury he had received from Bahadur Shah. That prince was now at war with the Rana of Mewar, and, being entirely occupied by the siege of Chitor, was particularly exposed to the attack of an enemy ; but Humayun, moved by his remonstrances against the impiety of molesting a Mussul- man prince while engaged in war with the infidels, or influenced by his own dilatory habits, retarded his march until the place was taken, and the besieger prepared to receive him in an intrenched camp at Mandesor. Bahadur had chosen this course on account of the superiority of his artillery, commanded by a Constant inopoli tan Turk, and partly served by Portu- guese prisoners. These advantages availed him little : his position was rendered untenable by the enemy's cutting off his supplies ; and, finding that famine would soon force him to surrender, he blew up his guns, and fled in the night, almost alone, to Mandu, leaving his army to provide for its own safety. The army immediately dispersed, and Bahadur, being hard pressed at Mandu, continued his flight to Champanir, and thence to the seaport of Cambay. Humayun was by this time in pursuit of him in person, with a light detachment, and reached Cambay on the evening of the day on which Bahadur had quitted it for his final place of refuge at Diu, in the most remote part of the peninsula of Guzerat.3 Having failed in his immediate object, Humayun quitted the peninsula, and proceeded to occupy the settled part of :5 When Humayun was encamped was a remarkable copy of the " His- at Cambay, he was exposed to con- tory of Tamerlane," the loss and siderable danger from a night-attack subsequent recovery of which are of a body of Culis, a forest tribe still thought worthy of being recorded famous for similar exploits in Gu- by the historians of those times, zerat. They made their way with Humayun, by way of retaliating the so much silence and intelligence insult he had received from^these into the camp, that they surprised lawless mountaineers, gave up the Humayun's own tent, and carried off unoffending town of Cambay to his baggage and books, among which plunder. F F 434 GUZERAT ABANDONED A.D. 1535, A.H. 942 Guzerat. He soon obtained possession of the open country, but the year was well advanced before the hill-fort of Cham- panir fell into his hands. It was scaled in the night, with the help of steel spikes fixed in an almost perpendicular rock, by 300 chosen men, who climbed up, one by one, during an attack made on one of the gates by the army. Humayun himself was among the 300. 4 Soon after the taking of Champanir, Humayun received accounts of the commencement of those troubles which ended in the successful revolt of Shir Khan. He set off for Agra, leaving his brother, Mirza Askari, in charge of his new con- quests, and had scarcely quitted Guzerat when dissensions broke out among the officers left behind. Discontents and intrigues ensued, and ended in some project for raising Mirza Askari, to the throne. Bahadur profited by these disorders ; and to such a state of weakness were the invaders reduced, that they gave up Guzerat without a struggle, and evacuated Malwa, which was not even threatened.5 Humayun had not been long returned to his capital before he set out against Shir Khan.6 This person,7 who was soon * When the fort was taken, it was found that the place where Bahadur's treasure was concealed was known only to one officer, and it was sug- gested to have recourse to torture to make him disclose the secret ; but Humayun said they had much better have recourse to wine, and directed that the officer should be well treated, and invited to an entertainment by one of his own chiefs. Accordingly, when his heart was softened by kind- ness and warmed with good cheer, the officer made no scruple to tell his entertainer, that if the water were drawn off from a certain reservoir the treasure would be found in a vault beneath it ; and his instruc- tions being complied with, a large amount of gold and silver was found as he had described. 5 Ferishta, vols. ii., iv. Price, vol. iv. Memoirs of Humayun. Bird's History of Guzerat. Paper by Col. Miles, Bombay Literary Transactions, vol. i. 6 He marched in the month of Safar, but the year is uncertain : the " Tarikhi Shir Shah " says A.H. 942 (A.D. 1535) ; and the " Mantakhib al Towarikh," as well as Ferishta, A.H. 943 (A.D. 1536). The former date, 942, is impossible, because Humayun took the foot of Champanir, in Gu- zerat, in that very month and year. The other year, 943, is improbable, as it allows only a twelvemonth for the final settlement of Guzerat and Malwa, besides the return to Delhi and the preparations for the war with Shir Khan ; while it leaves a year and a half for Humayun's march of 350 miles through his own dominions to Chunar. I should therefore sup- pose that his march took place in Safar, A.H. 944 (July, 1537). 7 This account of Shir Shah is com- piled from Ferishta, vols. i., ii., iv., from Erskine's Bdber, and from Abul Fazl in Price, vol. iv. Ferishta gives a connected history of Shir Shah (vol. ii. p. 98), which, though it appears to be written with perfect impar- tiality, is extremely confused from inattention to dates ; the different expeditions of Baber being mixed up with those of Humayun in such a manner as to make them quite inexplicable without other aid. This aid he himself partially supplies under the reigns of Ibrahim, Bdber, and Humayun, but more is derived from Baber's own Memoirs. Abul Fazl also furnishes several facts, though his general narrative is a mere invective against Shir Shah, such as might have been expected from the minister of Humayun's son. VII. 2 SHIR KHAN 435 to act so great a part, was the grandson of Ibrahim Khan, a native of Afghanistan. Ibrahim claimed to be descended from the family (though probably only of the tribe) of the kings of Ghor, and both he and his son Hasan were married into noble families of their own nation. Hasan held a jagir at Sahseram, in Behar, for the maintenance of 500 horse. He had two sons by his Afghan wife, Shir Khan and Nizam Khan ; but he was led, by the arts of a concubine, to slight his wife, and neglect her children ; and as soon as Shir Khan was of an age to act for himself he left his father, went to Jounpur, and entered as a private soldier into the service of the governor. His father applied to the governor to send him home for his educa- tion, but Shir Khan urged that there were more opportunities of education at Jounpur than at Sahseram ; and he seems to have been in earnest in his preference, for he devoted himself to study, made himself familiar with history and poetry, and could repeat all the poems of Sadi from memory, besides acquiring a general knowledge of other branches of information. He was subsequently restored to favour by his father, and managed his jagir, until Soleiman, the son of his stepmother, had grown up. After this he found his situation so unpleasant, that he went off with his full-brother Nizam, and entered into the service of Sultan Secander, who was then king.8 He remained at Delhi until his father died, when the jagir of Sahseram was conferred on him ; and after the defeat of Sultan Ibrahim (A.D. 1526), he was active in the service of Mohammed Shah Lohani, who set up for king of Jounpur and Behar. He was for some time in favour with this prince, but being' again deprived of his paternal jagir by the intrigues of his half- brother Soleiman, he left the court in disgust, and joined Junid, the governor of Jounpur, on the part of Baber (A.D. 1527). By the assistance of Junid, he assembled a body of adventurers in the hills of Behar, recovered his own jagir, and carried on attacks and depredations on the territory of Mo- hammed Shah Lohani, professing himself a subject of Baber. About this time (A.D. 1528) he waited on that monarch, accom- panied him to Chanderi, and was confirmed in his possessions and entrusted with a command in Behar, on the part of the emperor. Next year (A.D. 1529) Mahmud Lodi took Behar ; and Shir Khan, either from necessity, or an inclination to the cause of his nation, joined the Lodi standard. On the dispersion of Mahmud' s army, he was one of the many chiefs who made their submission to Baber (April, 1529).9 Mohammed Shah 8 Secander died in A.D. 1517. 9 Erskine's Baber, p. 408. 436 HUMAYUN ADVANCES A.D. 1529, A.H. 936 Lohani was now dead ; and his son Jelal, who was a minor, in charge of his mother, and at that time accompanying the Bengal army, made his submission also, and was invested with considerable power, on the part of the emperor. He was still, however, under the management of his mother, Dudu, over whom Shir Khan acquired such an ascendency, that, on her death, Jelal was left in entire dependence on that ambitious chief. Shir Khan now made himself master of Behar and also obtained possession of the fort of Chunar, as, at this or some subsequent period he did of the still more im- portant fortress of Rohtas.10 These rapid advances to power were made in the early part of Humayun's reign ; and as soon as that prince had settled his discussions with Camran, and had time to attend to his interests in the provinces, he marched against Chunar, as has been already stated (A.D. 1532). He, however, was content with the recognition of his title, and the service of a body of horse, under Shir Khan's son ; and this young man took an oppor- tunity to withdraw, when the king began his march against Bahadur Shah. Humayun, thenceforward, was fully occupied in Guzerat ; and, before his return, Shir Khan had got complete possession of Behar, had invaded Bengal, and had made great progress in the conquest of that rich kingdom. His war with Bengal was occasioned by Jelal Lohani, who had called in the aid of the king of that country, to relieve him from the control of Shir Khan, and, by his means, had at one time nearly succeeded in his object ; but Shir Khan soon retrieved his losses, repelled the attack on himself, and laid siege to Gour, the capital of the hostile king. He was engaged in this enterprise when Humayun re- turned, and that prince could not fail to perceive, at once, the advantage of attacking him while thus embarrassed, and the danger of allowing him to consolidate his power. With those views, he marched at the head of a powerful army from Agra, and advanced through a peaceful country till he reached Chunar, near Benares. But Shir Khan was well aware of all the danger of his situation, and laid his plans for averting it with a foresight and combination of which we have no example in the previous history of India. 10 Rohtas was taken by treachery an appearance, was thought suffi- from a Hindu raja. Shir Khan per- ciently plausible in modern times to suaded him to give an asylum to his be employed by M. Bussy to conceal family, and then introduced armed the treachery of a governor who ad- soldiers in the covered litters, which mitted him into the strong fort of were supposed to conceal the women. Doulatabad. This stratagem, "which has so fabulous VII. 2 THE SIEGE OF CHUNAR 437 His first object was to gain time to complete the conquest of Bengal, before he should be disturbed by a new enemy. For this purpose he threw a strong garrison into Chunar, and provided it with all the means of retarding the advance of Humayun by an obstinate defence. This fort stands on a rock, close to the Ganges, and is, as it were, a detached portion of the Vindhya mountains, which extend to the same river near Mirzapur. From that neigh- bourhood the hills recede westward, by the fort of Rohtas and Shirghati, and do not approach the river again until near Bha- galpur, after which they run straight south, leaving the Ganges at a great distance. These hills, therefore, cover the whole of the south-west of Behar and Bengal, and shut up the road along the south bank of the Ganges, in two places — one near Chumar, and the other at Sicragalli, east of Bhagalpur. The hills themselves are not high, but poor and covered with woods. As Humayun marched along the Ganges, and made use of that river to convey his guns and stores, it was necessary for him to begin with the siege of Chunar.11 After investing the place, he endeavoured to mine such parts of the walls as were accessible on the land-side, and also brought floating batteries, constructed for the purpose, to bear upon the face towards the river. Notwithstanding all these preparations, his attack failed ; the garrison, however, having already held out for several months, and knowing that they had no prospect of relief, at length surrendered. The siege had been conducted by Rumi Khan, the Constant! nopolitan Turk, who brought Bahadur Shah of Guzerat's ordnance to so high a state, and who had since entered into the service of Humayun ; and so much importance was attached to the knowledge of the service of artillery in those days, that the right hands of all the gunners in the garrison, to the number of 300, were cut off, either to disable them for the future, or in revenge for the loss they had occasioned. After the taking of Chunar, Humayun pushed his march along the Ganges. Before reaching Patna, he was met by Mahmud, king of Bengal, who had just been driven from his dominions, and was still suffering from a wound he had received in his last defeat. 11 The Memoirs of Humayun say writer, who scarcely ever gives a that the army reached Chunar on the date, may have mistaken the year, Shabi Barat (Shaban 15th) of A.H. although he has remembered the 945, January, 1539 ; but this would festival, and that the siege began leave only six months for the con- 15th Shaban, A.H. 944 (January 8th, quest of Bengal, and all the other 1538). All accounts agree that the operations till Humayun's defeat in siege lasted several months ; some Safar, A.H. 946 (June, 1539). I con- say six months, elude, therefore, that the memoir- 438 GOUR SEIZED As he approached the defile of Sicragalli, he sent on a strong detachment to take possession of it. They found it already occupied by Jelal Khan, the son of Shir Khan, who attacked and repulsed them with considerable loss. Humayun hastened on with his main body to retrieve this check, but was agreeably surprised to find the pass deserted, and the road open to the capital of Bengal. It was no part of Shir Khan's plan to cope with the superior force of Humayun in this stage of the campaign. His design from the first was to retire to the hilly tract on the south-west ; and with this view he had removed his family, and all that he possessed of value to Rohtas. The protracted siege of Chunar had enabled him to reduce Gour, and to defeat Mahmud in a conclusive battle. He had still required time to remove the captured treasures and stores to Rohtas, and to dispose of the open country in the manner that suited his views. Jelal Khan had therefore been instructed to delay Humayun at the pass, but to avoid any serious encounter, and to join his father in the hills. Humayun accordingly took possession of Gour 12 without further opposition. But the rains had by this time attained their height : the Delta of the Ganges was one vast sheet of water, and in the country beyond the reach of inunda- tion every brook and channel was become an impassable flood. It was impossible to carry on operations in Bengal, and scarcely less difficult to keep up a communication with Upper India. This forced inactivity lasted for several months, during which time the spirits of the soldiers sank under the moist and sultry climate, and their numbers were thinned by the sickly season that follows the heavy rains. No sooner were the roads open than they began to desert in numbers ; and Prince Hindal, who had been left in North Behar went off even before the rains had ceased. Meanwhile Shir Khan issued from his retreat, took possession of JBehar and Benares, recovered Chunar, laid siege to Jounpur, and pushed his detachments up the Ganges as far as Canouj. Thus, when the season for military operations commenced, Humayun found his communication with his capital again intercepted, and himself left with no alternative but to trust his new conquest to the charge of a weak detachment, and endeavour to force his way to Agra with the rest of his reduced army. He for some time hesitated to adopt this decided measure, 12 Probably June or July, 1538. appears that Humayun had met with Abul Fazl states that Bengal was rain before he left Behar, where the conquered in A.H. 945. That year rainy season does not commence till began on May 30th, 1538 ; but it June. VII. 2 SHIR KHAN BECOMES SHIR SHAH 439 and the dry season was half over before he set out on his retreat. He sent on a considerable body before he himself began his march, under the command of Khani Khanan Lodi, one of Baber's principal generals. By the time this force reached Monghir, it was surprised and defeated by a detach- ment sent by Shir, who was now as enterprising as he had before been cautious ; and who, to show his confidence in the result of his operations, had already assumed the title of king. If Humayun had not before had sufficient motives for ex- tricating himself from his present situation, the accounts he was daily receiving of the progress of affairs at Agra must have filled him with impatience : but by the time he had passed Baxar, between Patna and Benares, he found that Shir Shah had raised the siege of Jounpur, and was come by forced marches to intercept his retreat. Shir Shah had made a march of thirty-five miles on that day, and Humayun was advised to attack him before his troops had time to refresh. The step seemed too hazardous to be adopted at once ; and the next day he found Shir intrenched in such a manner that he could neither be passed nor attacked with any prospect of success. Hunm- yun, therefore, intrenched in his turn, and began to collect boats and form a bridge across the Ganges, so as to pursue his retreat along the opposite bank. Shir Shah, to whom every delay was an advantage, allowed him to go on for nearly two months ; when, the bridge of boats being nearly com- pleted, Shir Shah one day left his camp standing, and occupied by a sufficient force to conceal his movement from the enemy ; while he himself, with the choice of his army, made a secret march to the rear of Humayun' s position, and, returning in the night, attacked him in three columns about daybreak, and completely surprised his camp. Humayun had only time to leap on horseback, and, though himself disposed to make one effort, at least, against the enemy, he was urged by those around him to provide for his own safety ; and one of his principal officers, seizing his reins, in a manner compelled him to make his way to the river-side. The bridge, as has been mentioned, was not finished ; and, as Humayun had not a moment for deliberation, he plunged at once into the Ganges. Before he reached the opposite bank his horse was exhausted, and sank into the stream ; and Humayun himself must have met with the same fate, if he had not been saved by a water- carrier 13 who was crossing with the aid of the skin used to 3 [Tliis man afterwards came to power ; during which interval he is Agra, and was rewarded by sitting said to have provided handsomely for half-a-day (or, as soine say, two himself and his friends, (Erskine, ii. hours) on the throne, with absolute 179.) — ED.] 440 HOSTILITIES RENEWED A.D. 1539, A.H. 946 hold water, which he had inflated like a bladder, and which enabled him to support the king's weight as well as his own. Thus rescued, Humayun pursued his flight, with a very small retinue, to Calpi, and thence proceeded to Agra, almost the whole of his army having been cut off by the enemy or drowned in the river. Humayun' s queen, whom it had been the object of his last exertion to save, had already been sur- rounded, and fell into the hands of the enemy ; she was treated by Shir Shah with scrupulous delicacy and attention, and was sent on the first opportunity to a place of safety. This tremendous disaster took place in the end of June, 1539.14 Humayun' s presence, discomfited as he was, was of essential importance at Agra. While he was shut up in Bengal, Prince Hindal had begun to collect adherents at Agra, and being afterwards joined by the fugitives from Bengal, he went into open rebellion ; while Prince Camran, on being applied to by the king's representatives, immediately set out from Cabul, professedly to support Humayun' s interests, but in reality to be at hand to profit by any opportunity of advancing his own. The arrival of Humayun put a stop to all those designs. He pardoned Hindal, at the intercession of Camran, and the three brothers united their exertions to arrest the progress of their common enemy. While Humayun was occupied in repairing his losses, Shir Shah contented himself with retaining his acquisitions in Hindostan, and proceeded to recover possession of Bengal, and to put all his former territories into a state of order. Eight or nine months were employed on both sides in these transactions. Towards the end of the Mahometan year, Humayun once more moved from Agra, his own army being strengthened by a reinforcement of 3,000 men belonging to Camran, who himself retired to Lahor. By this time Shir Shah had reached the Ganges opposite Canouj , and both parties seemed unwilling to offer an advantage to the other ; until at length Sultan Mirza (a prince of the family of Tamerlane, who had before been in rebellion) deserted from Humayun's camp with his followers ; and the example was so likely to be followed, that Humayun determined to bring the contest to an issue, and crossed the Ganges by a bridge of boats which he 14 Most writers ascribe Humayun's Humayun, does great justice to Shir defeat to treachery, and say that Shir Shah in the facts, and asserts, on this Shah attacked him during an armis- occasion, that he delayed Humayun's tice, or even after a peace had been retreat by amusing him with negotia- signed. This account, in itself, does tions, but never professed to suspend not seem improbable ; but that given his hostility, and was entirely in- by Major Price from Abul Fazl, debted to his military skill for the although it occasionally applies op- success of his stratagem, probrious epithets to the enemy of VII. 2 FLIGHT OF HUMAYCN 441 had constructed. A general action ensued, in which Huma- yun's army was entirely defeated, and driven into the Ganges. Humayun himself was in imminent danger : his horse was wounded, and he must have been killed or taken, if he had not fortunately found an elephant, on which he mounted. Even then the driver could not be prevailed on to attempt to swim the Ganges ; and the king was obliged to throw him from his seat on the neck, and give his place to a eunuch whom he found on the elephant, and who now guided the animal across the stream. The opposite bank was too steep for the elephant to ascend ; and Humayun must still have perished, if two soldiers,15 who happened to have gained that part of the shore, had not tied their turbans together and thrown one end to him, so as to enable him to make good his landing. Before long he was joined by his brothers, the princes Hindal and Askari, and also by some troops ; and all together made their way to Agra, after a narrow escape from being plundered by the villagers on their road. All hope of further resistance was now at an end ; and they had scarcely time to remove the royal family and the most portable part of the treasures from Agra and Delhi, and to escape to Camran at Lahor. Even there Humayun was no welcome guest. Camran was equally afraid of being supplanted by him at home, and of being involved in his quarrel with Shir Shah ; and lost no time in making his peace with the conqueror, to whom he ceded the Panjab, and retired himself to Cabul, leaving Humayun to provide as he could for his own safety. The deserted monarch turned his thoughts to Sind, the province which adjoined to Camran' s territories on the south. It was in the hands of Husein, the head of the family of Arghun, who had been driven out of Candahar by Baber ; and as it had once belonged to Delhi, Humayun hoped that he might still find some means of inducing it to recognize his authority. But there was nothing in Humay tin's character to promise him such an ascendency. Though not deficient in intelligence, he had little energy ; and though free from vices and violent passions, he was no less devoid of principles and affections. By nature he was more inclined to ease than ambition ; yet, as he had been brought up under Baber, and accustomed to bodily and mental exer- tion, he never was entirely wanting to the exigencies of his situation, or quite lost the advantages of his birth and preten- sions, though he never turned them to the best account. 15 [Erskine says " one," who after- — Shems ud din, the " atkeh," or wards became a distinguished noble, foster-father of Akber. — ED.] 442 A DISASTROUS JOURNEY He passed into the Arghun territories through Uch ; but after a year and a half of fruitless negotiations, and no less fruitless hostilities (during which he attempted the sieges of Bakkar and Sehwan), he found his funds expended, and the resources of the country exhausted, and was deserted by the adventurers he had collected,16 just as Husein Arghun was advancing to attack him. In this extremity he fled to Uch, and resolved, as a last resource, to throw himself on the pro- tection of Maldeo, raja of Malwar, whom he supposed to be favourably disposed towards him ; but when, after a journey over the desert, in which he lost many of his followers from thirst and fatigue, he had reached the neighbourhood of Jodpur he found that the raja was much less inclined to assist him than to deliver him up to his enemies, and was obliged again to seek comparative safety in the dreary sands from which he had just emerged. His present object was to make his way to Amercot, a fort in the desert not far from the Indus ; and in this journey he had a more desolate tract than ever to pass, and had greater evils to encounter than any he had yet experienced. Before he quitted the inhabited country, the villagers repelled all approaches to their water, which was to them a precious possession ; and it was not without a conflict and bloodshed that his followers were able to slake their thirst. And all this was but a prelude to scenes of greater distress. His small train was encumbered by the presence of the women of his family ; and they had already left the last trace of human culture behind, and were struggling with thirst in the heart of the desert, when one morning, after a night of fatigue, they perceived that their march was followed by a considerable body of horse ; and the worst apprehensions seemed to be realised when they found it was commanded by the son of Maldeo, and was sent to chastise their intrusion into his territory. These new enemies closed in on the exhausted party, cut off those who attempted resistance, and drove the rest before them ; while another detachment pushed forward and took possession of the wells, on which the only remaining hope even of temporary relief was founded. The calamities of the fugitives seemed now drawing to a close, but the Rajputs had no intention of destroying them ; and when all hope appeared to be extinguished, the raja's son advanced with a white flag, and after reproaching them with having entered his father's territory without leave, and 16 [Tardi Beg was one of his ablest Humayun, but had at length deser and most faithful followers. Hindal him. — ED.] and Yadgar had been at first with VII. 2 BIRTH OF AKBER 443 with having killed kine in a Hindu country, supplied them with water for their immediate relief, and allowed them to proceed without further molestation. But the natural horrors of the desert still remained ; several marches were still to be accom- plished ; and it was not till they had again endured the tor- ments of thirst, and witnessed the miserable death of many of their companions, that Humayun, with seven mounted atten- dants, at length found entrance to Amercot. The straggling survivors of his party assembled at the same place. At Amercot he, at last, found a friend. The chief, whose name was Rana Persad, not only received him with respect and hospitality, but offered his assistance in another attempt to gain an establishment in Sind. It was this period of depression and affliction that gave birth to Akber, a prince destined to raise the Indian Empire to the greatest lustre that it ever enjoyed (Oct. 14, 1542). During his residence beyond the Indus,17 Humayun had been struck with the beauty of a young lady, whom he saw at an entertain- ment given to him, in the women's apartment, by his step- mother, the mother of Prince Hindal. He found she was the daughter of a Seiad, a native of Jam, in Khorasan,18 and formerly preceptor to that prince ; that her name was Hainida, and that she was not yet betrothed ; and so strong was the impression made on him, that, in spite of the angry remon- strances of his brother, he almost immediately married her. She was far advanced in her pregnancy during the march to Amercot, and it was with the utmost difficulty that she was conveyed through the hardships of the desert. Humayun had marched for Sind the day before the birth of Akber. It is usual on such occasions for the father to give presents among his friends. Humayun had no presents to give, except one pod of musk, which he broke up when the news reached him, and distributed among his adherents, with a wish that his son's fame might be diffused throughout the world like the odour of that perfume. He was accompanied on this expedition by Rana Persad, with a considerable body of Rajputs, and he had again collected 100 Moguls of his own. With this force they proceeded to Jun in Sind.19 They took the place, after an action with the officer in charge ; and though harassed by attacks from the troops of the Arghuns, they were joined by the neighbouring 17 [While he was besieging Bakkar 19 Probably Jun (or Jiun), on a in the summer of 1541, before Hindal branch of the Indus, halfway between had deserted him. — ED.] Tatta and Amerc6t. (See thejnap 3 Price, vol. iv. pp. 760, 840. to Dr. Burnes' Account of Sind.) Memoirs of Humdyun, p. 31. 444 HUMAYttN'S ILL-FORTUNE A.D. 1543, A.H. 951 Hindu princes, and formed an army estimated by the author of the Memoirs at 15,000 horse. But Humayun's ill-fortune, or ill-management, continued to attend him. The raja, after giving decisive proofs of his fidelity, was affronted by a Mogul, and got so little redress on complaining that he quitted the camp in indignation, and was followed by all his Hindu friends.20 In consequence of this defection, Humayun was left almost alone to contend with Husein Arghun, who was advancing against him. He nevertheless threw up intrenchments, and defended himself as well as he could : till Husein Arghun, glad to get rid of him on any terms, consented to allow him to withdraw, and even to assist him on his journey, if he would immediately set out for Candahar. These terms being settled, Humayun began his march towards his native kingdom (July 9, 1543.) His younger brothers had long quitted him, after occasioning him much annoyance from their restless disposition ; and Candahar was then held by Mirza Askari on the part of Camran. Humayun's object probably was to bring that prince over to his side, or to take the chances of gaining possession in some other way. His professed intention, however, was to leave his son at Candahar, and proceed himself on a pilgrimage to Mecca.21 When he had reached Shal, about 130 miles south of Can- dahar, a horseman, sent by one of his old adherents, galloped up to his tent, sprang from his horse, and, without quitting the bridle, rushed into the tent, and announced that Mirza Askari was close at hand, with the design of making Humayun prisoner. So little was he prepared for this intelligence that he had only time to place his queen on his own horse, and was obliged to leave her child to the compassion of his uncle. Mirza Askari soon after arrived. He pretended to have come with friendly intentions, treated his infant nephew with affec- tion, and removed the whole party to Candahar (Dec. 14, 1543). Meanwhile Humayun, accompanied by forty-two followers, escaped to the Garmsir,22 and thence to Sistan, which'was then 20 [Just at this crisis (April, 1543) he was rejoined by the celebrated Bairam Khan : this chief had escaped after the fatal battle of Kanauj, and had resisted Shir Shah's efforts to win him over, and after many adventures had found his way to Humayun's camp. (Erskine, ii. 258.) — ED.] 21 Some unexplained delay must have occurred between Jun and Sehwan. The whole distance from Jun to Shal is under 450 miles, and the journey from Sehwan. to Shal appears, by the Memoirs, to have been made in nine days ; yet the whole time, from Jun to Shal, was five months (from Rabi us Sani, July 9, to the middle of Ramazan, about December 10). [Humayun's un- accountable delays were the cause of most of the disasters of his reign. — ED.] 22 [" The temperature in Persia depends on elevation and soil, more VII. 2 FLIGHT INTO PERSIA 445 under the Persian government. He was received with great respect by the governor, and sent on to Herat, to wait the orders of the king of Persia. At the latter city he was joined by several of his partisans from Candahar. Three years had elapsed since his first arrival in Sind, of which eighteen months had been occupied in his negotiations and military attempts in that country : six months were spent in his journeys to the eastward of the Indus, and a year in his residence at Jun and his journey to Candahar. In his military affairs he had shown no want of personal courage, but great deficiency in enterprise ; and he had gone through his subsequent calamities with cheerfulness that approached to magnanimity. His temper was put to many trials ; for, as delicacy and subordination cannot be kept up under great sufferings, he was often exposed to instances of ill-humour and disrespect from his followers. He was more than once refused a horse, when it was almost necessary to his safety. A boat, which he had prepared to convey his family, on his flight, across the Indus, was seized by one of his chiefs ; and during the terrible march to Amercot, an officer, who had lent his horse to the mother of Akber, on finding his own exhausted, compelled her to dis- mount ; and Humayun was obliged to give her his, and proceed on foot till he met with a baggage-camel. On the other hand, he sometimes showed little consideration for his followers. When he reached Amercot, and was under the protection of the raja, he suddenly seized the baggage of his adherents, and even ripped open their saddles to discover their property, of which he took half to supply his own exigencies. At the end of one of his first marches towards Jodpur, where he had lost many of his party in the desert, he loaded all the cattle, even his own horses, with water, to relieve the survivors who might be unable to come on ; and as he went part of the way back himself, he found a Mogul merchant, to whom he owed a large sum of money, lying in the last stage of exhaustion, when, with a hard-hearted pleasantry, he refused to give him a drop of water until he had cancelled his debt before legal witnesses ; and it does not appear that he ever relieved the poor man from the consequences of this forced remission. than on latitude. Both the northern stretch along the shores of the Cas- and southern provinces have a cold pian, Persian Gulf, and Indian and warm region (or sardsir and Ocean." (Balfour's All Hazin, p. garmsir). The former is the higher 100, note.) The Qarmsir of the text and more mountainous part within is the low tract of Innd lying on the land ; the latter those plains which Helmand. — ED.] 446 SHIR SHAH A.D. 1540, A.H. 947 CHAPTER III SHfR SHAH, AND OTHERS OF THE FAMILY OF SUR A.D. 1540, A.H. 947— A.D. 1556, A.H. 964 Shir Shah takes possession of all Humayun's dominions — Recovers Malwa, A.D. 1542, A.H. 949 — Massacres the garrison of Raisin — Invades Marwar, A.D. 1544, A.H. 951 — Takes Chitor — Is killed at Calinjer, May 22, A.D. 1545 ; Rabi ul Awwal, A.H. 952 — His character — His internal improvements — Selim supplants his elder brother, May 25, A.D. 1545, Rabi ul Awwal 15, A.H. 952 — Quells an obstinate rebellion, till A.D. 1547, A.H. 954 — Dies A.D. 1553, A.H. 960 — Account of a fanatical sect — Mohammed A'dil murders his nephew, and usurps the throne, A.D. 1553, A.H. 960 — His vices and incapacity — Hemu, a low Hindu, made prime minister — Vigour and talents of Hemu — Oppressive measures of the king — Rebellions, A.D. 1554, A.H. 961 — Separation of Delhi and the western provinces — Revolt of the Panjab under Secander Sur — Revolt of Bengal — Revolt of Malwa — Return of Humayun — Success of Hemu — His defeat by Akber, and death — Death of Mohammed A'dil. THE ultimate success of the House of Timur, and the great celebrity which they afterwards obtained, have occasioned Shir Shah to ber egarded as a usurper. Yet, as he was born in India, and expelled a foreign family who had only been fourteen years in possession, his claim was, in reality, more conformable to justice than those of most founders of dynasties in that country. The retreat of Camran seems to have been concerted with Shir Shah, for he had no sooner withdrawn than the latter monarch took possession of the whole of the Panjab. After settling the province, and founding the famous fort of Rohtas, on the Hydaspes, which he named after that in Behar, he returned to Agra, and was soon called to subdue the revolt of his own governor of Bengal. He made such a division of that province for the future as to guard against a repetition of disturbance.1 In the course of the next year he conquered Malwa ; and in that succeeding he reduced the fort of Raisin, which was held by the son of Silhadi, a Hindu chief, who had enjoyed great authority under the government of Bahadur Shah. The garrison surrendered on terms : but when they had left the fort, the capitulation was declared null, on the authority of the legal opinion of some Mahometan lawyers ; and the Hindus, who had confided to the faith of their engagement, were attacked and cut to pieces, after a brave resistance. No motive can be discovered for this act of treachery and cruelty. There was no example to make or injury to revenge, and the days 1 [He divided the districts of the wholly independent of each other, province among a number of officers, (Erskine, ii. 428.) — ED.] VII. 3 DEATH OF SHIR 447 / of religious fury were long since gone by ; yet there is no action so atrocious in the history of any Mahometan prince in India, except Tamerlane. Next year, Shir invaded Marwar with an army of 80,000 men. Maldeo, raja of that country, was in the height of his power, and derived additional strength from the sterility of his territory, and the want of water in many parts of it. Although he had only 50,000 men to oppose to the superior numbers of his antagonist, he appears, at first, to have over- awed the invader. Shir remained for a month, halted within a short distance of his army ; but succeeded, at last, by the usual trick of letters written on purpose to be intercepted, in exciting the raja's suspicions of his chiefs, and thus inducing him to commence a retreat. One of those chiefs, indignant at the imputation, determined, in the Rajput spirit of honour, to wipe it off at any risk. He quitted the army with his own tribe, consisting of only 12,000 men, and fell with such impetu- osity on Shir Shah, who was unprepared for so vigorous an effort, that he threw his camp into confusion ; and so nearly gained the victory, that Shir Shah, when he had, at last, succeeded in repulsing the assailants, declared that he had nearly lost the empire of India for a handful of millet,— alluding to the poverty of the country and the low quality of its produce. After this he reduced the Rana of Mewar to submission, and subsequently laid siege to Calinjer.2 He was here over- taken by a just retribution for his breach of faith at Raisin, for the raja refused to enter into terms which he could not be sure would be observed ; and as Shir was superintending the batteries, he was involved in the explosion of a magazine, which had been struck by the enemy's shot, and was so scorched that, although he survived for some hours, his recovery was hopeless from the first, and towards evening he expired. In the midst of his agonies, he continued to direct the operations of the siege ; and when intelligence was brought to him that the place was taken, he exclaimed, ' ' Thanks be to Almighty God ! ' and never spoke again. Shir Shah appears to have been a prince of consummate prudence and ability. His ambition was always too strong for his principles, and in the massacre at Raisin he had not even that passion to plead ; but towards his subjects, his measures were as benevolent in their intention as wise in their conduct. Notwithstanding his short reign and constant activity in the field, he brought his territories into the highest order, 2 Besieged in vain by Mahmud in A.D. 1023. and taken by the English in 1812.— ED.] 448 SELfM SHAH StfR A.D. 1545, A.H. 952 » and introduced many improvements in his civil government. Abul Fazl affects to deride his institutions, which he represents as a revival of those of Ala ud din ; nevertheless, most of them remained after the downfall of his dynasty, and are spoken of by the same author, along with many others of former sove- reigns, as original conceptions of his master Akber. Another author, who wrote under Akber,3 states that Shir Shah made a high-road, extending for four months' journey, from Bengal to the western Rhotas, near the Indus, with caravanserais at every stage, and wells at every mile and a half ; 4 there was an imam and a muezzin at every mosque, and provisions for the poor at every caravanserai, with attendants of proper casts for Hindus as well as Mussulmans. The road was planted with rows of trees, for shade ; and in many places was in the state described, when the author saw it, after it had stood for fifty-two years. Shir Shah was buried at Sahseram, where his stately mauso- leum is still to be seen, standing in the centre of an artificial piece of water a mile in circumference, which is faced by walls of cut stone, with flights of steps descending to the water. Selim Shah Sur A'dil Khan was the eldest son of Shir Shah, and had been recognized as his heir by that king. He was a prince of a feeble character, while his second brother, Jelal Khan, was a man of known abilities, and had distinguished himself as a soldier in his father's wars. For these reasons, most of the chiefs were disposed to support Jelal ; and four of the principal of them having pledged their faith to A'dil for his personal safety, and for his receiving an adequate provision, he was induced to abdicate in favour of his brother. Jelal accordingly was proclaimed by the title of Selim Shah,5 and a tract of country near Biana was assigned to A'dil. He soon after took alarm at some proceedings of Selim, and he seems to have had good grounds for his suspicions ; as Khowas Khan, the prin- cipal general of Shir Shah, and one of the four chiefs who were security for the late agreement, took A'dil under his protection, revolted from the king, and marched straight to the capital for the purpose of deposing him. Selim had much to fear 3 In the " Muntakhab ut Ta- robbed should be subject to fine ; warikh," written in A.H. 1004, A.D. and, for fear of its infliction, the 1594-5. zemindars used to patrol the roads 4 [The " Zubdat ut Tawarikh " at night. (Sir H. Elliot's Hist., i. says that there was great security in 293). — ED.] travelling during his reign, as heestab- 5 [His proper title was Islam Shah, lished a law that the mukaddams (Erskine, ii. 448.) — ED.] of the village where any traveller was VII. 3 SHEKH ALLAI 449 from disaffection at home as well as from the declared rebels ; but he anticipated all movements against him by his prompti- tude and firmness, defeated the enemy, and in time entirely crushed the rebellion. A'dil fled to Behar, and was never more heard of. The nobles who had been secretly engaged in the conspiracy did not feel that their failure to take part with it had saved them from the suspicions of the king. One was convicted and punished ; and the others began to plot anew, and took arms for their protection, without setting up any competitor for the crown. The contest on this occasion took place in the Panjab. The rebels were again defeated. They retired among the Gakkars ; by the strength of whose country, and the support of the Afghan tribe of Niyazi, they were able to keep alive the insur- rection for two years. The rest of Selim's reign was passed in tranquillity.6 On one occasion, indeed, he was informed that King Humayun, who had recovered Cabul, had actually crossed the Indus to attack him. Selim happened to be indisposed at the time, and was sitting under the application of leeches ; but he started up on the instant, directed an immediate march, and was encamped six miles from Delhi before evening. If alarm had any share in this display of energy, it was ill-founded : Humayun had only crossed for local purposes, and almost immediately retired to Cabul. Selim Shah died after a reign of nine years. He was an improver, like his father, but rather in public works than in laws.7 One division of the royal palace at Delhi was built by him ; and although Humayun ordered it to be called Nurghar, by which name only it can be mentioned at court, it still retains that of Selimghar everywhere but in the royal presence. In this king's reign there appeared at Biana a sectary, named Shekh Allai, who preached the doctrines of the Gheir Mehdis. and, by his earnest zeal and persuasive eloquence, soon induced many persons to join him. They threw their 6 [Gwaliyar was his favourite capi- their most minute bearings, and con- tal, as also his successor's. — ED.] taining rules and regulations, which 7 [Even Abul Fazl allows that he concerned not only the army, but and his father had immense adminis- cultivators, merchants, and persons trative ability. Abdul Kadir says : of other professions, and which served " He resumed, and placed under the as a guide to the officials of the state, immediate management of the state, a measure which obviated the neces- the lands enjoyed by the troops, sity of referring to a cazi or mufti, establishing pecuniary payment in any case relating to matters which lieu, according to the rates fixed by hitherto had been settled according Shir Shah. Circular orders were to the principles and precepts of issued through the proper channels Muhammadan law." (Sir H. Elliot's to every district, touching on matters Historians, i. 230.) — ED.] •eligious, political, or revenue, in all G G 450 ADIL A.D. 1553, A.H. 960 i property into a common stock, and some even left their families and devoted themselves to the shekh. Khowas Khan, the great general whose rebellion has been mentioned, was at one time among their number. At first the shekh's fanaticism was inoffensive, but some of his followers went beyond all tolerable bounds ; they thought it was their duty to interfere whenever they saw a man in any act of sin, and if he did not attend to their remonstrance to put him to death. The civil government, as well as the Mahometan lawyers, thought it now high time to interpose. The shekh was tried, and con- demned to death ; but the king remitted his sentence, and banished him to Hindia on the Nerbadda. This only spread the infection of his doctrines : he converted the governor and the garrison, and was making greater progress than ever, when he was recalled to the capital. The king was importuned by the Mullas to put him to death ; and, after many delays, he ordered him to be whipped, and then left to consider whether he \vould recant his errors. The shekh had previously been seized by an epidemic then prevailing, and was so reduced that he expired at the third lash. His sect created no disturbance, and seems to have melted away. Mohammed Shdh Sur A'dil On Selim's death, his son, a boy twelve years old, was murdered by his uncle, Mohammed Khan,8 who usurped his throne under the title of Mohammed A'dil Shah, but is better known by that of Adali.9 His character was not such as to efface the memory of his crime ; he was grossly ignorant, fond of coarse debauchery and low society, and as despicable from his incapacity as he was odious for his vices. He committed the conduct of his government to one Hemu, a Hindu, who had once kept a small shop, and whose appear- ance is said to have been meaner than his origin. Yet, with all these external disadvantages, Hemu had abilities and force of mind sufficient to maintain his ascendency amidst a proud and martial nobility, and to prevent the dissolution of the government, weighed down as it was by the follies and iniquities of its head.10 A'dil was scarcely seated on his throne before he had 8 [The boy's mother was Muham- ('the foolish')." (Sir H. Elliot's mad's sister, and the usurper killed Hist., i. 302.) — ED.] him in his mother's arms. She had 10 [He was of low stature, and too repeatedly pleaded for her brother's feeble in health to ride on horseback ; life, when her husband wished to put even in the field he was carried about him to death, in order to secure the in a litter, or on an elephant ; but he succession for his son Firiiz. (Ers- is said to have gained twenty-two kine, ii. 483.) — ED.] battles for his king. (Erskine, ii. 9 [" His ignorance and absurdity 492.) — ED.] obtained for him the name of Adali VII. 3 REVOLT OF THE NOBLES 451 dissipated his treasures by the most indiscriminate profusion. When he had nothing of his own to give, he resumed the govern- ments and jagirs of his nobles, and bestowed them on his favourites. As the Afghans are never very capable of subor- dination, and are particularly jealous of any slight, the sufferers by these resumptions bore their wrongs with great impatience. On one occasion, when the king transferred the lands held by a military chief " to an upstart whom he favoured, the son of the dispossessed chief started forward, and exclaimed, " What ! is my father's estate to be given to a seller of dogs ? ' An attempt was made to force him out of the court ; and the person to whom the grant had been made seized him by the throat for the purpose, when the young man drew his dagger, and laid the aggressor dead at his feet. Being now attacked on all sides, he ran at the king, who leaped from his throne, and had scarce a moment to pass into his seraglio when the assassin was at the door. The king, however, was able to draw the bolt, and was soon delivered from his danger by the death of his assailant. The ill consequences of the affair did not end here. On the same day, one of the principal nobles fled from the court, and, being joined by other malcontents, set up the standard of revolt near Chunar. The king marched against the rebels, but, though he defeated them in action, his affairs were little improved by his success ; for Ibrahim Sur, a person of his own family, seized on Delhi and Agra, and the king, after a vain attempt to expel him, was forced to leave him in possession, and confine himself to the eastern portion of his dominions. This example of successful rebellion was not lost on the spectators. Secander Sur, another nephew of Shir Shah, proclaimed himself king in the Pan jab, advanced on Ibrahim, defeated him in action, and constrained him to leave Delhi and Agra. Ibrahim was now driven in on the territory still in the hands of A'dil. He was met and defeated by Hemu, and pursued to Biana, where he would have been captured, had not Hemu's attention been called off by a rebellion of Bengal. The usurper in this case was Mohammed Sur, who had been intrusted with the government of the province. By the time Hemu had joined his master, he heard that Malwa had also revolted,13 and that Humayun, having again entered India, had defeated Secander, and had taken Delhi and Agra. Notwithstanding this disastrous intelligence, Hemu perse- vered in opposing the new king of Bengal, who had advanced to some distance from his usurped territory. Hemu was again victorious, and Mohammed Sur fell in the battle. 11 [Shah Muhammad Firmali. — ED.] 12 [Under its governor, Shuja Khan. — ED. 452 HUMAYtJN RESTORED A.D. 1556, A.H. 964 The rebellions in other quarters still continued, but the most imminent danger that presented itself was from Humayun at Agra. While preparing to engage in this new contest, Hemu heard of the death of his enemy, and the accession of Akber, who was then in the Pan jab. Deriving fresh courage from this change, Hemu deposited his nominal king at Chunar, and set off with 30,000 men to recover the capital. His numbers increased as he advanced through a friendly country : Agra was taken after a siege, and all the Mogul troops who had been with Humayun were assembled under Tardi Beg at Delhi. Having been defeated in the field, Tardi Beg precipitately abandoned the city ; and Hemu now prepared to march to Lahor, and give the last blow to the apparently discomfited invaders. The general opinion in Akber's camp was in favour of a retreat to Cabul ; but Akber, who was only in his thirteenth year, left the whole conduct of affairs to Bairam Khan, and the intrepid character of that officer preserved the hopes of the House of Timur.13 Rejecting the timid counsels of the other chiefs, Bairam advanced against Hemu with a greatly inferior force ; and after a desperate battle at Panipat, in which Hemu showed the most heroic courage, the Indian army was defeated, and Hemu taken prisoner (November 5, 1556). With Hemu A'dil lost all hopes of recovering his dominions : he continued to reign for some time longer, till he was killed in a battle with a new pretender 14 in Bengal. CHAPTER IV HUMAYIJN RESTORED A.D. 1544, A.H. 952— A.D. 1555, A.H. 963 Reception of Humayun in Persia, A.D. 1544 — Account of the Safavis (or Sophis) — Magnificence and hospitality of Shah Tahmasp — His arro- gance and caprice — Forces Humayun to profess the Shia religion — Sends an army to restore Humayun — Taking of Candahar, which is ceded to the Persians, but treacherously recovered by Humayun after the departure of the Persian army — Taking of Cabul — Expedition to Badakhshan — Camran. recovers Cabul — Is driven out by Humayun — Gives himself up to Humayun, and is kindly treated — Humayun invades Balkh — Fresh rebellion of Camran — Calamitous retreat from Balkh — Humayun defeated by Camran and deserted by his army — — Camran again expelled — Taken, September, A.D. 1553 ; Ramazan, A.H. 961 — And blinded — Humayun marches to recover India — Defeats Secander Sur — Takes Delhi and Agra — His death. AT the time when Humayun entered Persia the throne was occupied by Shah Tahmasp, the second of the Safavi (or Sophi) 13 [The Moghuls were greatly death for abandoning Delhi. — ED. dispirited, and Bairam Khan, to u [The son of Muhammad Sur.- enforce order, had Tardi Beg put to ED.] VII. 4 RECEPTION OF HUMAYtfN 453 kings. His father was descended from a family of dervises, which had derived importance and influence from its sanctity, and was still principally supported by the enthusiasm of the nation for the Shia religion, which had been widely disseminated by the family, and formally established in Persia by Shah Ismail, the first king of the race. Though the Shias and Sunnis differ less than Catholics and Protestants, their mutual animosity is much more bitter ; and the attachment of the Persians to their sect is national as well as religious, the Shia faith being professed in no great kingdom but theirs. Coming so early in the succession to its founder, Shah Tahmasp was not only a devout adherent, but an ardent apostle of this new religion ; and it was by kis feelings in that respect that he was, in a great measure, actuated in his conduct to Humayun. The intercourse between those princes was highly characteristic of Asiatic despots. Humayun's reception was marked with every circumstance of hospitality and magnificence. The governor of every province received him with the highest honour, and the people of every city came in a body to meet him ; he was lodged in the king's palaces, and entertained with regal splendour ; but in the midst of this studied respect he was treated with little delicacy, and all semblance of gene- rosity disappeared as often as he disputed the will of the Persian monarch, or became in any way obnoxious to his pride or caprice. Though welcomed from the moment of his arrival, he was not allowed to approach the capital, and many months elapsed before he was admitted to an interview with the king. During this interval, he sent his most confidential officer, Bairam Khan, on a mission to Shah Tahmasp ; and it was through a circumstance in the treatment of his envoy that he was first reminded how completely he was in the power of another. More effectually to unite his followers by some visible symbol, the first Safavi had made them wear a particular description of cap, from which the Persians took the name they now bear. This sectarian distinction was an object of as much aversion to the other Mahometans as a rosary and crucifix would have been to a Calvinist of the seventeenth century.1 On one occasion of Bairam's attendance at court, the king desired him to wear the cap ; and on Bairam's representing that he was the servant of another prince, and was not at liberty to act without orders, Tahmasp told him " he might • The Persians generally call them- the measure, though unaccompanied selves Kazalbash, or Redhead, from with any religious innovation, was so the colour of this cap. Baber at- unpopular as to produce a dangerous tempted to introduce it among his disaffection to his government. (See troops, at a time when he depended Erskine's Baber, p. 244.) on the goodwill of the Persians ; but 454 TAHMASP'S INTOLERANCE A.D. 1544, A.H. 952 do as he pleased," but gave evident signs of great displeasure ; and sending for some offenders,2 ordered them to be beheaded on the spot, with a view to strike a terror into the refractory ambassador. Shah Tahmasp's meeting with Humayun was on terms of perfect equality, and in every way suitable to his own grandeur and the dignity of his guest. Yet the two kings were scarcely seated, when Tahmasp told the king of India that he must adopt the disputed cap ; and Humayun, to whom the demand was not unexpected, at once consented, with an appropriate compliment. His assuming it was announced by a triumphal flourish from the king of Persia's band, and welcomed by a general salutation to both monarchs by the Persian courtiers. Some more private conversation probably passed on the subject of religion, in which Humayun was not so compliant ; for next day, when Tahmasp was passing Humayun's palace on a journey, the latter prince went to the gate to salute him, but the Persian passed on without noticing him, and left Humayun mortified and humiliated. Some days after, when a large supply of firewood was sent to Humayun, it was accompanied by a message that it should serve for his funeral pile if he refused to embrace the Shia religion. To this the exiled prince replied with humility, but with firmness, and requested leave to proceed on his pilgrimage ; but Tahmasp was inexorable, declaring that he was determined to extirpate the Sunnis, and that Humayun must adopt the religion of the country he had voluntarily entered, or take the consequences. After all this intimidation, a cazi deputed by Shah Tahmasp to confer with him presented Humayun with three papers, and told him he might take his choice which he would sign. Humayun rejected them in succession, with indignation, and at one time started up to call his attendants. His anger was composed by the cazi, who conducted his negotiation with kindness as well as with address, and succeeded in convincing him that, although he might give up his own life for his religion, he had no right to sacrifice those of his adherents ; and that his duty as well as his interest called on him to comply with a demand which he had no means of effectually resisting. The memoir writer does not mention, and may not have known, the contents of the paper ; and Abul Fazl, with courtly dexterity, passes over the whole subject of religion, and scarcely hints at a temporary misunderstanding between the kings ; but it seems clear that it must have contained a profession of the Shia religion, and a promise to introduce it into India, as well as an engagement to cede the frontier province or kingdom of 2 [These were some Chiragh-kush heretics of the Ismailiyah sect. — ED.] VII. 4 DEPARTURE OF HUMAYUN 455 Candahar. This last article was carried into effect ; and it was probably a sense of the impossibility of fulfilling the other that made Humayun so indifferent to a rupture with Persia, when the period of performance drew near. That Humayun himself pro- fessed to have been converted appears from a pilgrimage which he made to the tomb of Shekh Safi at Ardebil, a mark of respect not very consistent with the character of a professed Sunni.3 After the contest about this paper, Humayun was neglected for two months ; and when Tahmasp renewed his attentions, they were not unmixed with ebullitions of an overbearing tem- per on points unconnected with the favourite topic of religion. Tahmasp had heard from some of Humayun' s enemies, that, during that monarch's prosperity, on some practice of divina- tion to discover the destiny of reigning princes, he had placed the king of Persia in a class inferior to that in which he ranked himself. Tahmasp now took him to task for his assumption, and, on Humayun' s endeavouring to explain his reasons, told him that it was through such arrogance that he came to be driven out of his kingdom by peasants, and to leave his women and his child in the hands of his enemies. Nevertheless the public conduct of the king of Persia con- tinued to be as cordial and as generous as ever. He gave great hunting and drinking parties in honour of Humayun ; and, when the time of that prince's departure approached, he loaded him with attentions, and on one occasion laid his hand on his heart and entreated his guest to forgive him if he had ever failed in what was due to him. He then dismissed Humayun, with a promise that 12,000 horse should be ready to join him in Sistan. But the two kings were not destined to part without one more explosion of temper from the king of Persia. Instead of marching straight to the frontier, Humayun loitered about different places which he wished to visit, until he was overtaken by Tahmasp, who was moving on some business through his dominions. He no sooner saw Humayun' s tents than he ex- claimed, " What ! has he not yet left this country ? " and sent a messenger to direct him to make a march of twelve farsakhs (upwards of forty miles) without a moment's delay. ! The " Muntakhab ut Tawarikh " p. 298) that it is only from Jouhor states that the paper contained the that we learn the various humiliations Shia confession of faith, and that which Humayun had to endure in Humayun complied with the demand Persia. Abul Fazl and Ferishta for his accepting it by reading aloud try to disguise or conceal them ; without any other sign of assent or " Jouher's narrative, incorrect and dissent. The same book adds, that artificial as it is, is one of many in- he adopted the Shia mode of reciting stances of the inestimable value, for a portion of the public prayers, which historical truth, of even the meanest is the most contested point between contemporary record." — ED.] the two sects. [Erskine shows (ii. 456 MIRZA ASKERI A.D. 1545, A.H. 953 In Sistan Humayun found 14,000 horse (instead of the 12,000 promised), under the command of the king's son, Morad Mirza.4 Camran was still in possession of Cabul. Candahar had been surprised by Hindal, but retaken ; and that prince had been forgiven by his brother, and was now governor of Ghazni, the government of Candahar being entrusted to Mirza Askeri. Camran had also taken Badakhshan from his relation Soleiman, who had been placed there by Baber ; it compre- hended the south of Bactria ; the northern part of that pro- vince, including Balkh, was in the hands of the Uzbeks. Shir Shah was still alive, and there was little to be hoped from an invasion of Hindostan. Humayun's own troops, while in Persia, only amounted to 700 men, and they were probably not more numerous when he marched with the Persian force against the fort of Bost, on the river Helmand. That place soon surrendered, and the force advanced unobstructed to Candahar (March, 1545). The eagerness of the Persians, and their fear that Mirza Askeri might escape with his treasures, led them at first to a tumultuary attack, which was repelled by the garrison, and the siege was then opened in form. It lasted for more than five months, during which time Humayun sent Bairam Khan to Cabul to endeavour to bring Camran to terms. His mission was unsuccessful ; and as for a long time none of the chiefs or inhabitants of the country joined Humayun, the Persians began to be disheartened, and to talk of returning to their own country. At length things took a favourable turn : deserters of different ranks came in from Cabul ; and the garrison of Candahar being reduced to distress for subsistence, many of the troops composing it escaped to their own homes, while others let themselves down from the walls and came over to the besiegers. Mirza Askeri was now obliged to surrender ; and, by the intervention of his aunt, the sister of Baber, he obtained a promise of pardon from his brother (September, 1545). But Humayun's heart seems to have been hardened by his long misfortunes and disappointments ; and his proceedings, which formerly were chiefly to be blamed for weakness, began to assume a darker character. Askeri was compelled to make his appearance before the conqueror with his sword hung naked from his neck, and to display his submission in the most humi- liating forms. When this was over, Humayun, with seeming generosity, placed him by his side, and showed him every mark 4 [This was the king's third son, of the Tiirki tribe of Kajar, from then an infant. The troops were which the present royal family of really under the command of a noble Persia is descended. — ED.] VII. 4 SLAUGHTER OF PERSIANS 457 of forgiveness and returning kindness. A great entertainment was given to celebrate the reconciliation ; but when the fes- tivity was at its height, and all fears and suspicions had been laid aside, some orders which Askeri had written to the Beloch chiefs for apprehending Humayun during his flight to Persia were produced ; and, on pretext of this long-past act of enmity, he was made prisoner, and kept in chains for nearly three years. The fort and treasures were made over to the Persians, on which the greater part of their troops returned home ; and the garrison which was left under Morad Mirza began, according to Abul Fazl, to oppress the inhabitants. Abul Fazl enters on a long apologetical narrative of the events that followed ; which, for its own cant and hypocrisy, as well as the perfidy of the acts it defends, is not surpassed by anything even in the Memoirs of Tamerlane. The sum is, that the Persian prince, having suddenly died, Humayun, still professing the most fervent attachment to Shah Tahmasp, obtained admission on friendly terms into the city, slaughtered many of the garrison, and made an extraordinary merit of allowing the rest to return to their own country.5 It is probable that the sophistical pretexts of Abul Fazl are not chargeable to Humayun, who might plead that he was not bound to observe an engagement wrung from him by force. This argument, however, if admissible as far as relates to his conversion, does not apply to the cession of Candahar. That was the price of the assistance of the king of Persia ; and by 5 The following is a specimen of tionof the risks of a quarrel, Humayun Abul Fazl's manner of relating a story stifled the reproaches of his con- like the present. It is from Col. science, until Morad Mirza's death Price's version, and, though not afforded an opportunity for executing literal, gives the spirit of the original. his design. Even then he absolutely After enlarging on the complaints of refused to endanger the lives of the the people of Candahar (who had shah's troops by giving them any never been subject to Humayun) notice of his hostile intentions, and against the officers of their present only consented to lull them into sovereign, the king of Persia, he goes security, and surprise them when on : " The generous monarch felt they were off their guard. He begged himself under considerable embar- permission of the governor to send rassment, lest, in satisfying the de- Mirza Askeri, under an escort, to be mands of justice by inflicting punish- kept prisoner in Candahar. The Per- ment on the oppressors, he might give sian gave his consent without hesita- offence to his good ally, the king of tion ; and the escort, being secretly Persia ; or by suffering the guilty supported by other detachments, to escape entirely unpunished, they seized one of the gates, on which a might be encouraged to extend their conflict ensued, and many of the malpractices a hundred-fold against garrison were put to the sword, the unfortunates still subject to their (Price, vol. iv. p. 89.) [" Bairam authority, his conscience pretty dis- Khan was appointed governor, and, tinctly reminding him that by this in a despatch to the shah, he pre- latter course he should most surely tended to hold it for him." (Erskine, incur the just vengeance of an ii. 320.) — ED.] offended God." On mature consiclera- 458 CAMRAN A.D. 1547, A.H. 955 availing himself of that assistance, after he was free from restraint, he ratified his engagement anew ; and his infraction of it, especially with the concomitant circumstances, must leave him under the stigma of treachery, though not, perhaps, of ingratitude. After the occupation of Candahar, Humayun marched for Cabul, although the winter had already set in with extra- ordinary severity. As he advanced, he was joined by his brother Hindal ; and afterwards by other deserters, in such numbers that, when he reached Cabul, Camran found it im- possible to resist, and fled to Bakkar on the Indus, where he threw himself on the protection of Husein Arghun, prince of Sind.c Humayun entered Cabul, and recovered his son Akber, now between two and three years of age. After remaining for some months at Cabul, Humayun set out to recover Badakhshan, which was again in the hands of Mirza Soleiman. Before his departure, he thought it prudent to put his cousin, Yadgar Mirza, who had just joined him, and was suspected of fresh intrigues, to death. What is remarkable in this event is, that the governor of Cabul flatly refused to carry the order into execution, and that Humayun directed another person to perform it without inflicting any punishment on the governor. While Humayun was at Badakhshan, where he remained for many months, Camran returned from Sind and surprised Cabul. Humayun marched against him in the dead of winter, defeated his troops, and drove him within the walls. On this and all subsequent occasions during the siege, Humayun put his prisoners to death in cold blood, which Camran retaliated by still greater cruelties, and even threatened to expose young Akber, who had again fallen into his hands, to the fire of the cannon, if they continued to batter the town.7 At length Camran was compelled to quit Cabul (April, 1547). He made his escape in the night, and fled to Gori, in the south of Bactria. Being, after some time, dislodged from thence by a detachment of Humayun's, he had recourse to the Uzbeks at Balkh, and by their aid he recovered Badakhshan. During 6 [Camran here married Husein' s the text of this one fact is from the daughter, Chuchak Begum, who re- memoir writer ; that author passes mained attached to him amidst all over most of the other atrocities on his vicissitudes. (Erskine.) — ED.] both sides ; but on that subject I am 7 Abul Fazl states that Camran afraid there is no reason for distrust- did actually expose Akber, without ing Abul Fazl. The memoir writer giving the least notice ; and that it mentions that Cabul was given up to was only by the direct interposition plunder, after the flight of Camran, of Providence, shown in miracles, of as a punishment for the infidelity of which he relates the particulars, that the inhabitants ; which is not noticed the destruction of the royal infant by Abul Fazl. was averted. The account given in VII. 4 CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE UZBEKS 459 these operations the summer passed, and Humayun was con- strained by the snow to defer his march from Cabul until the next spring. He then set out for Badakhshan, where Camran was defeated, driven into Talekan, and, being disappointed of the assistance he expected from the Uzbeks, reduced to sur- render (August, 1548). On this occasion Humayun behaved with perfect good faith and humanity : he treated Camran with great kindness ; and three of the brothers being now together, he released the fourth, Mirza Askeri, and they all assembled at a feast, where they ate salt together, and were, for the time, entirely reconciled. After this Humayun returned to Cabul. Next spring (1549) he set out to attack the Uzbeks in Balkh ; and he appears at last to have acquired a sufficient spirit of enterprise ; for, having taken the small fort of Eibak, he immediately began to hold consultations about the conquest of Transoxiana : but. at the moment of his reaching Balkh, where he had beaten off a sally of the garrison, he received intelligence that Camran had rebelled, and was threatening Cabul ; and on commencing his march on his return to his capital, he was so pressed by the Uzbeks that his retreat soon became a flight, and it was with difficulty that his troops made their way, in total confusion and disorder, to a place of safety. This calamity shook the fidelity of his remaining adherents ; and in a battle which took place soon after, some of his greatest chiefs deserted him ; and he had nearly lost his life in the defeat which fol- lowed. On this occasion he was wounded by a soldier of Camran, who was about to repeat the blow, when Humayun called out, " You wretch ! how dare you ? ' and the man was so confounded by the stern look of the king that he dropped his arm, and allowed his wounded antagonist to retire (middle of 1550). Humayun now fled, with only eleven attendants, among whom was Jouher, the author of the memoir. He underwent many hardships, and for some time suffered from his wound : in the end he reached Badakhshan, where Mirza Soleiman, for the first time, zealously supported him. On his flight, Camran again took Cabul, and Akber once more fell into his hands. But in a subsequent battle 8 fortune proved favour- able to Humayun ; Camran was obliged to take refuge with 8 [While collecting his troops, Hu- But the seed fell in an uncongenial mayun made them all take an oath of soil, — " there was no hereditary peer- fidelity, when one of his nobles, Haji age or rank, no great council, no con- Muhammad Khan, proposed that Hu- vocation of the church, no municipal mayun himself should take an oath to institutions in the towns, no common- follow the advice of his friends, which weal at all, no foundation for free he agreed to do. Under other cir- institutions ; nothing was fixed or cumstances this might have been the stable but despotism." (Erskine, germ of a constitutional monarchy. ii. pp. 388-90.) — ED.] 460 CAMRAN BLINDED A.D. 1551, A.H. 959 an Afghan tribe in the mountains of Kheiber ; Cabul was taken, and all the open country restored to obedience (1551). The king soon after marched against Khalils, the tribe that had harboured Camran. He was attacked in the night by those mountaineers : his brother Hindal was killed, and he was obliged to take refuge in Besut, a small fort in the pass between Peshawer and Cabul. The Afghans did not follow up their advantage ; and while Camran was feasted in turn by successive tribes, Humayun again took the field, defeated the Afghans, and compelled Camran to fly to India ; where he sought an asylum with Sultan Selim, the successor of Shir Shah (1552). Receiving no encouragement in that quarter, he fled to the sultan of the Gakkars, and was ultimately betrayed by him to Humayun, three years after his last expulsion from Cabul9 (September, 1553). Though Camran's repeated offences would have justified his immediate execution, they do not in the least reconcile us to the treatment he received when given up. Humayun had come into the Gakkar territory to receive the prisoner ; and Camran, when brought before him, advanced with great humility ; but Humayun received him graciously, seated him on his right hand, and soon after, some water-melon being handed round, he gave half of the piece he had taken to his brother. In the evening there was an entertainment, with singers, and the " night was passed " in " jollity and carousing." 10 Next day passed in the same manner : during the course of it, some of his counsellors asked Humayun what he intended to do with his brother, and he answered, ' Let us first satisfy the Gakkar chief, and then I will do what I think proper." On the third day the Gakkar chief was satisfied ; and it was determined that Camran should be blinded. The author of the Memoirs, having been ordered to attend on the prince, describes the particulars of his misfortune. At first no person was willing to undertake the duty, and the king had given the order just as he was setting off on his march. One officer rode after him, and told him in Turki the difficulty that had arisen ; on which the king reviled him, and asked why he had not done it himself. On the officer's return, the order was made known to Camran with many expressions of sorrow, and the operation was performed by piercing his eyes repeatedly with a lancet. Camran bore the torture without a groan, until lemon- juice and salt were squeezed into his eyes, when he called out, " O Lord, my God : whatever sins I have committed have been amply punished in this world : have compassion on me in the next." 9 Memoirs, p. 105. 10 Memoirs, p. 104. VII. 4 SECANDER StTR 461 After witnessing this part of the scene, the author could no longer remain : he went on to the camp, and sat down in his tent in a very melancholy mood. On this the king sent for him, and asked why he had come away without orders. The author replied that the business was completed, and the king told him he need not go back ; and immediately gave him an order about some trifling business, without further noticing what had passed. He probably felt more shame than pleasure at the intelligence ; indeed, the circumstances are important, rather as showing the effects of his situation than the nature of his disposition, of which they are not otherwise characteristic than in the indecision and the wish for things to go on smoothly. He was not naturally either cunning or cruel ; and if he had been a limited monarch in Europe, he would most likely not have been more treacherous or bloody than Charles II. Camran, now no longer dangerous, was permitted to go to Mecca, where he soon after died.11 After this transaction, Humayun was desirous of proceeding to Cashmir ; but, hearing of the advance of Selim Shah, he retreated to Cabul, and spent the next year at that place and Candahar. In the meantime, Selim Shah had died ; and the misgovern- ment of his successor had broken up his territories into five portions, in each of which there was a separate king. Secander Sur, to whose share the Panjab had fallen, had since attacked Ibrahim, the usurper of Delhi and Agra, and had driven him from his territories, while A'dil, the real sovereign, was carrying on operations against both. Circumstances could not, therefore, have been more favourable to Humayun ; but the recollection of former misfortunes seems to have excited gloomy forebodings about India ; and it was not till he was encouraged by omens as well as arguments that Humayun could make up his mind to the enterprise. When he had undertaken it, he executed it with alacrity : he set out from Cabul with 15,000 horse (January, 1555) : he invaded the Panjab, defeated Secander's governor, and took possession of Lahor, where he remained for some time to settle the province.12 At Sirhind he engaged Secander, who had advanced to 11 [He died October, 1557. His the tribes of the four generals com- Arghun wife would not leave him, manding the divisions : Bairam but in spite of her father's remon- Khan was a Persian Turk, Khizr strances refused to stay behind. Khan an Afghan Hazara, Tardi Beg She only survived him a few months. a Turk of Ferghana, and Sekander —ED.] Khan an Uzbek." (Erskine, ii. p. 12 [" The motley nature of Huma- 515.)— ED.] yun's army may be conceived from 462 DEATH OF HUMAYtTN A.D. 1555, A.H. 963 meet him at the head of a large army. Humayun gained a decided victory, and immediately took possession of Delhi and Agra, while Secander fled to the mountains under Himalaya. The latter prince, not long after, again issued from his retreat, and Bairam Khan was sent along with Prince Akber to the Panjab to oppose him. Humayun, though thus restored to his capital, had re- covered but a small portion of his original dominions, and even that he did not live to enjoy. In less than six months after his return to Delhi he met with an accident which occasioned his almost immediate death. He had been walking on the terrace of his library, and was descending the stairs (which, in such situations, are narrow steps on the outside of the build- ing, and only guarded by an ornamental parapet about a foot high). Hearing the call to prayers from the minarets, he stopped, as is usual on such occasions, repeated the creed, and sat down on the steps till the crier had done. He then endeavoured to rise, supporting himself on his staff ; the staff slipped on the polished marble of the steps, and the king fell headlong over the parapet. He was stunned at the time ; and, although he soon recovered his senses, the injury he had received was beyond cure. On the fourth day after his accident he expired, in.the forty-ninth year of his age, and twenty-sixth of his reign, including the sixteen years of his banishment from his capital. His unsettled reign left little time for internal improve- ments ; and it is marked by no domestic event of importance, except the death of the celebrated Persian historian, Khon- demir, who had come to Baber's court soon after his invasion of India, and died in the camp of Humayun during his expedi- tion to Guzerat. BOOK VIII STATE OF INDIA UP TO TILE ACCESSION OF AKBER HISTORY OF THE INDEPENDENT STATES OF INDIA AFTER THE DISSOLUTION OF THE EMPIRE OF DELHI States formed on the dissolution of the empire under Mohammed Tughlak- - Recovery of Telingana and Carnata by the Hindus — Further dismem- berment of the empire — Bahmani kingdom of the Deckan, A.D. 1347 until A.D. 1518 — Increased intercourse with the Hindus — Rivalry be- tween the Shia and Sunni sects in the court and army — States formed out of the Bahmani dominions, A.D. 1489-1512 — Bijapur — Ahmed- nagar — Golconda — Berar — Bidar — Their history — Battle of Talicota, Jan. 25, A.D. 1565 ; Jamada's Sani 20, A.H. 972 — Fall of the kingdom of Bijayanagar — Guzerat — Malwa — Other Mahometan kingdoms — The Rajput states — Change in the condition of the Rajputs after the Mahometan conquests in India — State of the Rajput princes at the accession of Akber — Mewar — Marwar — Bikanir — Jesalmer — Amb6r or Jeipiir — Harauti — Petty states in the desert — Petty states on the east of the tableland — Other unsubdued tracts. As we have reached the epoch at which the whole of India was formed into one empire, and a considerable alteration was made in the relation of different classes of the inhabitants, the time seems suitable for reviewing the preceding transactions of the separate communities, and ascertaining their actual condition at the commencement of the change. The empire of Delhi, in the reign of Mohammed Tughlak, extended to the Himalaya mountains on the north-east and to the Indus on the north-west ; on the east and west it reached the sea ; and on the south it might be said to include the whole of the peninsula, except a long narrow tract on the south-west, the frontier of which would be imperfectly marked by a line drawn from Bombay to Rameshwar. But within the limits one large space was unsubdued and another unexplored. This last was the kingdom of Orissa, a tract of forest which extended nearly from the mouth of the Ganges to that of the 1 [The entire Hindu period of El- what similar survey of the state of phinstone's history corresponds only India 250 years later may be found to this eighth book of the Muham- in the first chapter of Professor Wil- madan, — so widely do the two periods son's Continuation of Mill's History, differ from each other in all that con- — ED.] stitutes historical value. A some- 4t>3 464 DISMEMBERMENT OF THE EMPIRE Godaveri, something less than 500 miles, and ran inland for a depth of from 300 to 400 miles. The imperfectly conquered part was the Rajput territory, a still more extensive tract in the north-west of India. During the disorders produced by the misgovernment of Mohammed Tughlak, the rajas of Telingana and Carnata restored those territories to the Hindus. The former prince had not long before been driven from Warangal, and compelled to retire to the south ; and he now returned to reoccupy his old possessions. The other was of a new family, who set themselves up in the place of the Ballals, and fixed their capital at Bijayanagar, on the Tumbadra. These two rajas soon reduced the Mussulman frontier to the Kishna on the south, and the meridian of Heiderabad on the east. They also brought the more southern parts of the peninsula into dependence, and formed states capable of contending on equal terms with their Mahometan neighbours. The western state, that of Bijaya- nagar, was the most considerable from the first. It was of much longer duration than the other, and before its fall had attained a pitch of power and splendour not, perhaps, sur- passed by any previous Hindu dynasty since the Mahometan invasion. This re-conquest, which took place in A.D. 1344, was preceded by the revolt of Bengal (about A.D. 1340) ; and succeeded (in A.D. 1347) by the grand rebellion of the Deckan, by which the power of Delhi was driven across the Nerbadda. The death of Mohammed Tughlak (A.D. 1351) for a time put a stop to further dismemberment ; but towards the end of the century, during the minority of Mahmud (the last Tughlak king), Guzerat, Malwa, and Jounpur proclaimed their inde- pendence ; the latter kingdom being formed of the country on the Ganges, from Bengal to the centre of Oudh. The invasion of Tamerlane soon followed (A.D. 1398) : the remaining pro- vinces threw off the yoke ; and the territory of Delhi was reduced to a few miles near the capital. The recovery of some parts of these last dominions has already been related ; and I shall now explain their progress during the intermediate period, and the position in which they stood at the accession of Akber.2 The first place is claimed by the kingdoms of the Deckan. 2 As the particular transactions of India, I have thrown them into an these separate kingdoms are not Appendix, and confined the text to essential to the general history of an outline and the results. VIII. 1 THE BAHMANI DYNASTY 465 KINGDOMS OF THE DECKAN Hasan Gangu, who headed the successful revolt against Mohammed Tughlak, transmitted his crown to his descendants, who reigned for thirteen generations, and for 171 years. The Hindu rajas of Bijayanagar and Warangal were the allies of the new monarchy in its resistance to the empire of Delhi ; but when delivered from their common enemy, their natural antipathy revived. The struggle was of long duration, but the Mahometans were the gainers in the end. During the rule of the house of Bahmani, they conquered the country between the Kishna and Tumbadra from Bijayanagar, and entirely subverted the kingdom of Warangal ; and immediately before their fall they had gained a territory in Orissa, and had extended their conquest on the east coast as far as Masulipatam, and on the west as far as Goa. These long wars on tolerably equal terms, together with occasional alliances against common enemies, seem to have had some effect in mitigating the overbearing conduct of the Mussul- mans towards the Hindus. Men of both religions entered freely into each other's service : the flower of the king of Malwa's army, during an invasion of the Bahmani territories, is said to have consisted of 12,000 Afghans and Rajputs, while Deo Raj, raja of Bijayanagar, recruited Mahometans, assigned lands to their chiefs, and built a mosque at his capital expressly for their encouragement. The domestic history of the Bahmani dynasty was much influenced by the rivalry between the foreign and native troops. In most Asiatic despotisms the king first trusts to the army against the people, and then to a body of foreign household troops, or Mamluks, against the rest of the army ; and these Mamluks, in the end, usurp the government. In the Deckan the course was different : the army which placed the Bahmani dynasty on the throne was chiefly composed of foreigners, and there seems to have been no guard more trusted to than the rest. In time, the native troops increased in number, and so nicely balanced the foreigners that neither party ever obtained a permanent influence over the government. At the time of the separation from Delhi many of the foreign troops were probably Mogul converts ; in later times, according to Ferishta, they consisted of Persians and Turks, Georgians, Circassians, Calmucs, and other Tartars ; the greater part of them were of the Shia sect ; and the contest with the native troops was probably more between Shias and Sunnis than between parties arising from difference of race. H H 466 VARIOUS STATES A D. 1437, A.H. 841 The native party, or Deccanis as they were called, were always joined by the Abyssinian mercenaries, who came in numbers by the seaports on the western coast,3 and who may be pre- sumed to have been Sunnis. These parties reached the highest pitch of animosity in the reign of Ala ud din II., A. D. 1437. They occasioned continual jealousy and distraction, and were as injurious to the govern- ment by their intrigues at court as by their want of co-operation on service. They were kept in control under vigorous admini- strations ; but towards the end of the dynasty, Mahmud, a weak prince, was alternately the tool of the foreigners, whose chief was Yusuf A'dil Khan, a Turk, and of the Deccanis, then under Nizam Mulk Behri, the son of a converted Hindu. The Deccanis having gained the ascendency, Yusuf A'dil retired to his government of Bijapur, where he subsequently took the title of king, and founded the dynasty of A'dil Shah. Nizam ul Mulk being afterwards assassinated by Kasim Barid, a Turk, his son Ahmed set up a separate dynasty called Nizam Shah, the capital of which was Ahmednagar. Kasim Barid was now the master of the court of Mahmud ; and two other great chiefs became independent, although they did not, for some time, take the title of king. These were, Kutb Kuli, a Turkman, from Persia, and Imad ul Mulk, descended from Hindu converts : the former founded the dynasty of Kutb Shah, at Golconda, close to Heiderabad ; and the latter that of Imad Shah, at E'lichpur in Berar. Amir Barid, the son of Kasim, governed for some time under a succession of pageants : at length he threw off the mask, and was first of the Barid kings of Bidar, the family of Bahmani being thenceforth no longer mentioned. The internal strife between Shias and Sunnis which con- tinued after the formation of these kingdoms, their wars and alliances among themselves and with the neighbouring Mahome- tan princes towards the north, give sufficient variety to their history for the period for which they lasted, but lose all their importance when the whole merged in the empire of the house of Timur. Their conquests from the Hindus had more permanent effects. The raja of Bijayanagar long maintained his place among the powers of the Deckan, taking part in the wars and confederacies of the Mahometan kings ; but at length, in 1565, the Mussulmans became jealous of the power and presumption of the infidel ruler, and formed a league against Ram Raja, 1 The Persian or Mogul party also It is difficult to account for the little chiefly received their recruits by sea. influx of Arabs. VIII. 1 KINGDOMS IN HINDOSTAN 467 the prince on the throne at the time.4 A great battle took place on the Kishna near Talicot, which for the numbers engaged, the fierceness of the conflict, and the importance of the stake, resembled those of the early Mahometan invaders. The barbarous spirit of those days seemed also to be renewed in it ; for, on the defeat of the Hindus, their old and brave raja, being taken prisoner, was put to death in cold blood, and his head was kept till lately at Bijapur as a trophy. This battle destroyed the monarchy of Bijayanagar, which, at that time, comprehended almost all the south of India. But it added little to the territories of the victors ; their mutual jealousies prevented each from much extending his frontier ; and the country fell into the hands of petty princes, or of those insurgent officers of the old government, since so well known as zemindars or poligars.5 The kings of Golconda were more fortunate in their separate conquests. They completely subdued all Warangal, which had made efforts at independence, and reduced other parts of Telingana and Carnata, as far as the river Penar. These acquisitions by no means extended to the recovery of the country lost by Mohammed Tughlak ; but were all that were made by the Mussulmans until the time of Aurangzib. KINGDOMS IN HINDOSTAN AND THE ADJOINING COUNTRIES Guzerat and Malwa became independent during the reign of Mahmud Tughlak, and probably assumed the name of kingdoms after that title was abolished in Delhi, on the inva- sion of Tamerlane. Khandesh, which had not joined the rebellion in the Deckan, afterwards followed the example of its northern neighbours. 4 [Krishna Raya extended the ment to the English, in A.D. 1G40. kingdom in every direction, and was Rennell's Hindostan, p. 291. [This a great patron of Telugu literature. settlement was Fort St. George. At his death he left no legitimate Several of the poligars mentioned in children, and after a disputed succes- the text were members either of the sion his son-in-law, Rama Raja, sue- royal family of Vijayanagar or of that ceeded to the throne. — ED.] of Rama Raja. A son of the latter 5 Briggs's Ferishta, vol. iii. pp. 127 recovered possession of Anagundi and and 414. Wilson, Mackenzie Cata- Vijayanagar ; on the direct line be- logue, vol. i. p. cli. Wilkes's Mysore, coming extinct, Venkapati, a kins- vol. i. p. 18. The brother of the late man of the Chandragiri branch, suc- raja removed his residence farther ceeded ; the seventh from him was east, and finally settled at Chand- dispossessed by Tipu Sultan, and ragiri, about seventy miles north- became a pensioner of the East India west of Madras, at which last place Company until the pension lapsed, in his descendant first granted a settle- 1830. (Wilson, Mack. Catal.) — ED.] 468 OTHER MAHOMETAN KINGDOMS But although the revolt of the three provinces was simul- taneous, it was not made in concert ; and whatever connexion afterwards subsisted between their histories arose out of their wars rather than their alliances. The territory of the kings of Guzerat, though rich, was small, encroached on by hills and forests, filled with predatory tribes, and surrounded by powerful enemies. Yet they were the most conspicuous of all the minor kings after the extinction of the Bahmani dynasty. They twice conquered Malwa, and finally annexed that kingdom to their own : they repeatedly defeated the Rajputs of Mewar, and took their famous capital of Chitor : they established a sort of supremacy over Khandesh, and even received the homage of the kings of Ahmednagar and Berar : on one occasion they carried their arms to the Indus ; and they were more than once engaged in maritime wars with the Portu- guese, which make a figure in the history of that nation. Their territory was occupied, as has been related, by Humayun, but was recovered in the confusions which soon followed, and was independent at the accession of Akber. Malwa was engaged in frequent wars with all its neighbours in Hindostan and the Deckan ; but the most remarkable part of its history was the ascendency obtained by a Hindu chief, who by his courage and abilities rescued the king from many difficulties, but at last engrossed all the powers of the state, filled all the offices with Rajputs, and was only dispossessed by the march of the king of Guzerat to the assistance of his brother Mahometan. Khandesh, Bengal, Jounpur, Sind, and Moltan were all independent at the accession of Akber ; but their separate history is of little moment. The states yet mentioned were all fragments of the empire of Mohammed Tughlak ; but a portion of the original princes of India still remained unconquered, and are acknowledged as sovereign states even to the present day. The Rajputs, who at the time of Sultan Mahmud's invasion were in possession of all the governments of India, sank into the mass of the population as those governments were over- turned ; and no longer appeared as rulers, except in places where the strength of the country afforded some protection against the Mussulman arms. Those on the Jumna and Ganges, and in general in all the completely conquered tracts, became what they are now ; and, though they still retained their high spirit and military figure, had adapted their habits to agriculture, and no longer aspired to a share in the government of the country. VIII. 1 THE RAJPOTS 469 The remains of Rajput independence were preserved on the tableland in the centre of Hindostan, and in the sandy tract stretching west from it to the Indus. Their exemption from the encroachment of the Mussulmans was in proportion to the strength of the country. Mewat, Bundelcand, Baghelcand, etc., lie on the slope towards the Jumna, and, though close to the level country on that river, are rough and broken : it is there that we find the tributaries so often in insurrection, and there also are the forts of Rintimbor, Gwalior, Calinjer, etc., the taking and retaking of which seem to occur in almost every reign. The open part of the tableland is partially protected by this tract : it is easier of access from the north about Jeipur, which principality has always been submissive. Ajmir and Malwa, on the open part of the tableland, were early conquered and easily retained. The east part of the rana of Oudipur's country (or Mewar) was equally defenceless, but he had an inexpugnable retreat in the Aravalli mountains, and in the hills and forests connected with them, which form the northern boundary of Guzerat. The raja of Jodpur (or Marwar), with his kinsman the raja of Bikaner, the raja of Jesalmer, and some smaller rajas, were protected by the desert, with which the fertile parts of their territories are interspersed or surrounded. The government of the Rajputs, partly feudal and partly clannish, their high sense of honour, and their strong mutual attachment, have already been explained,6 and had not degenerated in Akber's time. The state of the different governments, at the accession of that monarch, was as follows : — The family and tribe of the rana of Oudipur 7 (which were first called Ghelot, and afterwards Sesodia) are said to be descended from Rama, and, consequently, to draw their origin from Oudh. They were afterwards settled in the peninsula of Guzerat, from whence they removed to I'dar, in the hills north of that province ; and ultimately established themselves at Chitor, Colonel Tod thinks, early in the eighth century of our era. They make no figure in history till A.D. 1303, when Chitor was taken by Ala ud din, and almost immediately after recovered by the rana. Hamir, by whom that exploit was performed, had a series of able successors, and by their means Mewar attained the ascendency among the Rajputs, which enabled Sanga to bring them all into the field against Baber. The great defeat sustained in that contest weakened the power of Sanga's family, and at a later period it was so much reduced by the incapacity of his grandson, Bicramajit, that 6 Seep. 353. 7 [Its proper spelling is Udayapura. — ED.] 470 THE RAHTORS Bahadur, king of Guzerat, was able to take Chitor, and would have turned his success to account but for his defeat by Humayun, which immediately followed the capture of Chitor. From that time till the accession of Akber the ranas remained in quiet possession of their territory, and retained their high rank among the Rajput princes, though they never recovered their political ascendency, and were compelled, in the reign of Shir Shah, to acknowledge the sovereignty of the king of Delhi. The next Rajput state in importance was that of the Rahtors in Marwar, the capital of which was Jodpur. The Rahtors were in possession of Canouj when that kingdom was subverted by Shahab ud din in A.D. 1194. After the conquest, part of the Rahtors remained on the Ganges, and occasionally revolted against the Mussulmans, until they became reconciled to the yoke ; but another portion, under two grandsons of the last king, preferred their liberty to their country, and retired to the desert between the tableland and the Indus. They there subdued the old inhabitants of the race of Jats, dispossessed some small tribes of Rajputs, who had preceded them as colonists, and soon formed an extensive and powerful princi- pality. A younger branch of the royal family at a later period (A.D. 1459) founded the separate state of Bikanir, and occupied an additional portion of the desert. The Rahtors do not seem to have been molested by the Mussulmans until the expedition of Shir Shah against Maldeo, and probably recovered their in- dependence after the storm was blown over. Maldeo was still alive in the beginning of Akber's reign. In the western part of the desert were the Bhattis, under the raja of Jesalmer. The Bhattis claim to be of the tribe of Yadu, and consequently derived from Mattra on the Jumna. They were part of Crishna's colony in Guzerat, and were expelled after the death of that hero. They then retired towards the Indus, and are lost in an unusually thick cloud of Rajput fable, until they appear at Tanot, north of Jesalmer, and within fifty miles of the Indus. From this period (which Colonel Tod thinks was in A.D. 731) their annals assume an historical character, but are marked by no important event, except the removal of their capital, in A.D. 1156, to Jesalmer. They came very little in contact with the Mussulmans till after Akber's time. The rajas of Amber, or Jeipur, of the tribe of Cachwaha, have, in modern times, stood on an equality with the rana of Oudipur and the raja of Jodpur ; but their rise into distinction is since the accession of Akber. They were ancient feudatories of Ajmir, and probably remained in submission to the Maho- metans after the conquest of that kingdom. They may have VIII. 2 INTERNAL STATE OF INDIA 471 increased their consequence during the weakness of the neigh- bouring governments in the fifteenth century, for they must have been held in consideration when Akber married the raja's daughter. The rajas of the tribe of Hara, who give their name to Harauti, claim descent from the family that ruled in Ajmir before the Mahometans ; and settled in their present posses- sions, of which Bundi was then the capital, in A.D. 1342. They were in some degree of feudal dependence on Oudipur. They are not noticed in Mahometan history till just before Akber, when the reigning raja obtained the famous fort of Rintambor from the governor who had held it for the Afghan kings. Besides these greater states, there are several petty princi- palities, as the Chouhans of Parker, the Sodas of Amercot, etc., which, being in the extreme west of the desert, were beyond the reach of Mussulman invaders ; and those of Sirohi, Jhalor, etc., which, lying in the fertile tract beneath the Aravalli mountains, and on one road from Ajmir to Guzerat, were liable to constant invasion and exaction of tribute. On the eastern slope of the tableland, Mewat, Gwalior, Narwar, Panna, Orcha, Chanderi, and other places in Bundel- cand,8 had been repeatedly attacked by Baber and Shir Shah, and were all tributary at the time of Akber's accession. They were mostly held by old Rajput families. The petty states under the Himalaya mountains, from Cashmir inclusive to the Bay of Bengal, were independent under sovereigns of their own. Many mountain and forest tribes throughout India were unsubdued, though they could scarcely be called independent : they were left out of the pale of society, which they sometimes disturbed by their depredations. CHAPTER II INTERNAL STATE OF INDIA Internal state of the Mahometan empire. The king's power — His ministers — Provinces — Army — Law* — Church — Moulavis — Fakirs — Supersti- tions— Sects — Hindus — Conversions — Revenue — Condition of the people — State of the country — Towns and commerce — Coinage — Architecture — Manners — Mahometan literature — Language. OF the internal state of the Mahometan empire in India we have no means of obtaining more than a slight view. 8 [The oldest dynasty in Bundel- self at Mow, and founded the dynasty cand is that of the Chandelas, which of Bundelas from the name of his fell soon after Mahmud's invasion. family. Orcha was made the capital About the time of Timur, a Rajput of Bundelcand in 1531. (Col. Frank- chief, named Dewada Bir, fixed him- lin, Transact. R.A.S., vol. i.) — ED.] 472 THE KING AND HIS MINISTERS By the theory of the Mahometan law, the ruler of the faithful should be elected by the congregation, and might be deposed for any flagrant violation of the precepts of the Koran ; but, in practice, the king's office was hereditary, and his power absolute. He was considered as bound to observe the Maho- metan law ; but neither the Ulema * nor any other public body had the means of enforcing his obedience to it. The municipal institutions of villages, some local jurisdictions which will be mentioned, and some other means of passive resistance, obstructed his will on ordinary occasions ; but when he was determined to persevere, there was no remedy short of rebellion.1 The duties of vazir, or prime minister, varied according to the abilities of the individual and the activity of the king. In some cases he was an uncontrollable vice-gerent ; in others only the chief among the ministers. The others had their depart- ments, but not very strictly defined. The kings were easy of access : they inquired into petitions, and transacted a great deal of business in the daily assemblies of their court ; which, although it must have caused some confusion and loss of time, afforded them the advantage of information from many quarters, besides giving publicity to their decisions and their principles of government. The governors of provinces exercised, each within his juris- diction, all the executive powers of the state. Several of the subordinate officers were appointed by the king, but all were under the orders of the governor. In most provinces there were Hindu chiefs who retained an hereditary jurisdiction. The most submissive of this class paid their revenue and fur- nished the aid of their troops and militia to the governor, and were subject to his control in cases where he thought it necessary, but were not interfered with in the ordinary course of their administration : the most independent only yielded a general obedience to the government, and afforded their aid to keep the peace ; but these last were confined to strong countries, or large tracts bordering on a province.2 Part of the army were men hired singly by the king, and mounted on his horses, but the greater number probably brought their own horses and arms ; and these last would often * [The heads of the religion and Jodpur), whom they affected to con- law. — ED.] sider as subordinate to their goverii- 1 [Cf . the royal prerogative in the ment ; but it is only in comparatively Institutes of Manu, supra, pp. 20, 21. modern times that it has been ex- — ED.] tended downwards, so as to include 2 It was to these hereditary chiefs persons holding assignments of the that the term zemindar was originally government revenue, as well as dis- applied. The pride of the Mussul- trict and village officers. (See Mr. mans extended it to independent Stirling, Asiatic Researches, vol. xv princes (like those of Oudipur and p, 239.) VIII. 2 LAW 473 come in parties, large or small, under leaders of their own. There was no feudal authority under the kings of Delhi.3 Firuz Shah Tughlak is said to have been the first that assigned land in lieu of pay ; and Ala ud din is said to have been extremely on his guard against all grants, as tending to the independence of his officers.4 Most governors had under them some portion of the regular army, in addition to their local troops ; and in case of disturb- ance, reinforcements were sent under separate commanders, who, when the force was considerable, were nearly on an equality with the governor. At other times governors were summoned to contribute to the formation of armies, and on those occasions they collected the contingents of their zemindars, took away as many as could be spared of the troops of the province, and, if their situation was favourable, recruited new ones for the occasion. By the original theory of the Mahometan government the law was independent of the state, or, rather, the state was dependent on the law. The calif was not excluded from a control over the administration of justice ; but in that, and even in his military and political transactions, he was to be guided by the rules of the Koran, and the decisions and practice of the Prophet, and of his own predecessors. Before long, the accumulation of decisions and the writings of learned lawyers contributed to form a great body of jurisprudence, the inter- pretation of which required a distinct profession. At the same time the extension of the Mussulman conquests gave rise to a sort of common law, not derived from the Koran, but from the custom of the country and the discretion of the kings. From these separate sources arose two distinct classes of tribunals : those of the cazis, which recognised the Mahometan law alone, and which only acted on application, and by fixed rules of procedure ; and those of the officers of government, whose authority was arbitrary and undefined. Civil trials, about marriage, adoption, inheritance, and, generally speaking, all questions regarding private property, ought properly to come before the cazi ; who ought also to try all offences that did not threaten the safety of the state or the public tranquillity. The jurisdiction of the king's officers was not so well defined. We may presume that their interference in civil cases would be rightly exercised in causes between servants of the government, and where there were parties of such power as to be beyond the 3 [The usual system was that of * History of Firuz Shdh, by Shamsi jagirs (see p. 80). Cf. pp. 370, 533. Suraji. —ED,] . 474 CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS OFFICERS reach of the cazi ; they might reasonably be expected also to supply the defects of the Mahometan law in the case of Hindus ; and the revenue officers would be natural umpires in many disputes about land. In criminal cases, rebels, conspirators, and highway robbers, as well as persons embezzling public money, or otherwise offending directly against the state, fell under the lawful jurisdiction of the same functionaries. In general, however, the governors and their officers were not scrupulous in confining themselves to those classes of trials. They received all complaints that were made to them, giving summary decisions in many cases, and referring those that turned on points of Mahometan law to the cazi, to whom also all causes that did not excite interest or promise profit would be left. The power of the cazis varied in different reigns. At some times we see the office, even in provincial courts, filled by men of celebrity ; and at those times, we must conclude, their authority was respected, as appeared likewise from the occa- sional resistance of the cazis to the governors : at others it probably sank nearly to its present level, when the duty is reduced to performing marriages, registering and authenticating deeds, and similar unimportant functions. There was no church establishment, or, rather, no church government : every man, king, or subject, who founded a mosque, left funds to maintain the priest (imam) and other persons required for public worship. Assignments were also made to holy men and their successors, and even to their tombs. There was in each district an officer called sadr, whose, business it was to see that the objects of all these grants, or at least those made by the crown, were carried into effect ; and there was a sadr us sudur at the head of all the sadrs : their jurisdiction was only over the application of the funds ; the succession was settled by the original grantor, and generally depended on the choice of the incumbent, regulated by the opinion of the learned of the neighbourhood. Though there was no organised body of clergy, there was a class (called moulavis or mullahs) from which judges, lawyers, and ministers of religion were generally or always taken. But these were rather graduates in law and divinity than ecclesi- astics. The degree was conferred by a meeting of some of the recognised members of the class, who were supposed to ascertain the learning and fitness of an individual, and who formally invested him with his new character by tying on a peculiar kind of turban. He was bound by no vows, and was subject to no superior, but was controlled by public opinion, and the hopes of preferment alone. Distinct from the ministers of religion was a numerous class VIII. 2 FAKIRS AND SAINTS 475 of monkish devotees, called dervises in Persia, but in India more frequently fakirs. This is an excrescence of the Mahometan system, originating in the sanctity of particular persons. At first there were no saints, and the earliest instances of elevation to that character were in the case of martyrs, or of distinguished champions of the faith who fell in battle. By degrees austere and religious lives led to this sort of canoni- zation, which was conferred by public opinion, and generally on living men. These saints were followed by disciples, who, by degrees, formed orders, always distinguished by some watchword and some form of initiation, and sometimes by peculiarities of dress or observances. Many of these became earlv extinct, while others branched out into new orders. Small »/ numbers of fakirs lived with their chiefs, and others were drawn together by charitable distributions, etc. ; but they had no monasteries like the Hindus. The most eminent among the saints were not impostors, although their followers might magnify the prophetic character of their predictions and the miraculous effects of their prayers : in later times, however, there was a lower class of fakirs, who supported their claims to supernatural powers by tricks with magnets, phosphorus, etc.. and by legerdemain. Of the higher description many were treated with the utmost reverence even by kings ; and, although professing poverty and abstinence, were accustomed to live in great splendour, or at least to distribute vast sums in charity ; 5 and they often acquired such influence as to excite the jealousy of the government. Several instances occur of men of great sanctity being put to death for real or suspected plots against the state.6 The most flourishing period for these holy men was the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth centuries. Many saints of those and later times are still revered, and are the objects of vows and pilgrimages ; but the fakirs, their followers, though perhaps respected at first, have long lost their influence. Many of the superstitions of the age were unconnected 5 Baha ud din Zakariah, who died pretended to live almost without in the beginning of the fourteenth nourishment, and another who pro- century, and is still one of the most fessed to remember a calif who died revered saints, left enormous wealth near 100 years before. The first of to his heirs. (Briggs's Ferishta, vol. these also told Ibn Batuta's thoughts, i. p. 377.) and foretold events : another fakir 6 Ibn Batuta, in the middle of the had seven foxes that followed him thirteenth century, furnishes exam- like dogs, and a lion that lived in pies of all these kinds. A great fakir harmony with an antelope. For an put to death for a conspiracy in his account of the others, the method of time has been mentioned. He met initiation, and the principal saints, several really holy men who made no see Herklot's Kdnuni Islam. pretensions ; but he also met one who 476 CONVERSIONS with, and even opposed to, religion. Not only was the faith unbounded in astrology, divination, magic, and other arts discouraged by Mahomet ; but even practices of the Hindus, and prejudices originating in their religion, began to gain ground. The miracles of their jogis are related by orthodox writers with as perfect a conviction as could have been given to those in the Koran ; witchcraft was universally believed ; omens and dreams were paid the greatest attention to ; and this credulity was not influenced by the prevalence of scepti- cism in religion ; it was admitted even by Akber, and exercised absolute sway over his son, while it was by no one treated so contemptuously as by the bigoted Aurangzib. The Shia religion never made any progress in Hindostan, as it did in the Deckan : there were no sectarian animosities, and, altogether, there was more superstition than fanaticism. The Hindus were regarded with some contempt, but with no hostility. They were liable to a capitation tax (jizya) and some other invidious distinctions, but were not molested in the exercise of their religion. The Hindus who are mentioned as military commanders may perhaps have been zemindars, heading their contingents, and not officers appointed by the crown : there is no doubt, however, that many were employed in civil offices, especially of revenue and accounts ; 7 and we have seen that Hemu and Medni Rai 8 were entrusted with all the powers of their respective governments, and that under Mobarik Khilji the whole spirit of the court and administration was Hindu. It is difficult to form an opinion as to the period when the conversions of Hindus were chiefly accomplished, or in what circumstances they were brought about. The actual state of the population affords us little light. The largest proportion of Mussulmans to Hindus is probably in the remote districts in the east of Bengal ; while about the Mahometan capitals of Delhi and Agra it is much less considerable.9 The terror of the arms of the Mahometans, and the novelty of their doctrines, led many to change their religion at first ; but when these were succeeded by controversial discussion and more moderate intolerance, a spirit opposed to conversion would naturally arise. The whole of the Mussulmans in India at the present 7 Baber informs us that when he they are more than one-half of the arrived in India, " the officers of population. In most parts of Bengal revenue, merchants, and work- they are one-fourth ; but in the west people were all Hindus." (Erskine's of Behar and in Benares, not above Bdber, p. 232.) one-twentieth. See Lord Wellesley's 8 [For this Rajput chief, see the interrogatories, in 1801, laid before account of Malwa in the Appendix. Parliament. Buchanan makes the — ED.] Mahometans in the west of Behar 9 In Bengal, east of the Ganges, one-thirteenth. VIII. 2 GENERAL CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE 477 moment do not exceed one-eighth of the population ; and , after allowing for the great and long-continued immigration, and for the natural increase, during eight centuries, of a favoured class whose circumstances gave great facility in rearing families, the number left for converts would not be very great. Even if the wrhole eighth part of the population were converts, the proportion would be surprisingly small compared to other Mahometan countries.10 The revenue system was probably the same as now exists and as existed under the Hindus ; for the alterations at- tempted by Shir Shah, and accomplished by Akber, were not designed to change the system, but to render it more perfect. The confusion of new conquests, and the ignorance of foreign rulers, must, however, have led to many abuses and exactions. The condition of the people in ordinary times does not appear to have borne the marks of oppression. The historian of Firuz Shah (A.D. 1351 to 1394) expatiates on the happy state of the ryots, the goodness of the houses and furniture, and the general use of gold and silver ornaments by their women. He is a panegyrical writer, and not much to be trusted ; but he says, among other things, that every ryot had a good bedstead and a neat garden ; and the mere mention of such circumstances shows a more minute attention to the comforts of the people than would be met with in a modern author. The general state of the country must, no doubt, have been flourishing. Nicolo di Conti, who travelled about A.D. 1420,11 speaks highly of what he saw about Guzerat, and found the banks of the Ganges (or perhaps the Megna) covered with towns, amidst beautiful gardens and orchards, and passed four famous cities before he reached Maarazia, which he describes as a powerful city filled with gold, silver, and precious stones. Barbosa and Bartema, who travelled in the first years of the sixteenth century, corroborate these accounts. The former, in particular, describes Cambay as a remarkably well-built city, in a beautiful and fertile country, filled with merchants of all nations, and with artisans and manufacturers like those of Flanders.12 Even Ibn Batuta, who travelled during the anarchy and oppression of Mohammed Tughlak's reign (about 1340 or 1350), though insurrections were raging in most parts through which he passed, enumerates many large and populous %,10 The proportion of one-eighth is 12 Barbosa is in Ramusio, vol. i. from Hamilton's Description of Hin- p. 288, and Bartema in the same dostan, vol. i. p. 25. He does not give volume, p. 147. Cesare Federici, in his authority, but he is supported by 1563, gives a similar account of Gu- the common opinion. zerat, Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 386 (edition 11 Ramusio, vol. i. p. 359. of 1606), and Hackluyt, vol. ii. p. 343. 478 A PROSPEROUS COUNTRY towns and cities, and gives a high impression of the state in which the country must have been before it fell into disorder. Baber, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, although he regards Hindostan with the same dislike that Europeans still feel, speaks of it as a rich and noble country, abounding in gold and silver ; 13 and expresses his astonishment at the swarming population, and the innumerable workmen in every trade and profession.14 The part of India still retained by the Hindus was nowise inferior to that possessed by the Mahometans. Besides the writers already mentioned, Abdurrazzak, an ambassador from the grandson of Tamerlane, visited the south of India in A.D. 1442 ; 15 and all concur in giving the impression of a prosperous country. Those of them who visited Bijayanagar are unbounded in their admiration of the extent and grandeur of that city ; their descriptions of which, and of the wealth of the inhabitants and the pomp of the raja, are equal to those given by others of Delhi and Canouj.16 Other populous towns are mentioned ; and Ibn Batuta speaks of Madura, at the extremity of the peninsula (then recently conquered by the Mahometans), as a city like Delhi. The same author says, that through the whole of Malabar for two months' journey, there was not a span free from cultiva- tion : everybody had a garden, with his house placed in the middle of it, and a wrooden fence round the whole.17 13 Erskine's Baber, pp. 310, 333. elephants, who would spread over the 14 Ibid., pp. 315, 334. To all these cultivated country for food ; and accounts of the nourishing state of that there is no necessary connexion the country, it is natural to oppose between the residence of such animals the statement of Baber, that in and the absence of population ap- his time elephants abounded about pears from the facts that the rhino - Calpi and in Karrah and Manikpur ceros is still common in the Raj mahal (Erskine's Baber, p. 315), and the hills, close to the populous lands of fact of Akber's falling in with a herd of Bengal, while in the vast forest on those animals near Colaras in the east the east of Berar there are neither of Malwa (Briggs's Ferishta, vol. ii. p. rhinoceroses nor elephants, except a 216) ; from which we might suppose few of the latter, which are supposed that those places were then amidst to be tame ones which have escaped, forests which have since been cleared 15 Murray's Discoveries in Asia, away. I am disposed to think, how- vol. ii. p. 18. ever, that the disappearance of the 16 Abdurrazzak's description of elephants is to be ascribed to the Bijayanagar is so glowing that it is activity of the Mahometan hunters, scarcely surpassed by that in the and not to the improvement of the story of Prince Ahmed in the Arabian country. Ibn Batuta, who wrote Nights, which appears to be taken nearly two centuries before Baber, ex- from it. Conti is so extravagant as pressly says that Karrah and Manik- to say that it is sixty miles in circum- pur were the two most populous ference. Bartema says seven miles ; districts in India (Lee's Ibn Batuta, but adds, that it is very like Milan, p. 119) ; small tracts of hills and 17 Lee's Ibn Batuta, p. 166. jungle would be enough to shelter VIII. 2 COINAGE 479 The seaports, above all, seem to have attracted admiration. Those on both coasts are described as large cities, the resort and habitation of merchants from every part of the world, and carrying on trade with Africa, Arabia, Persia, and China.18 A great home trade was likewise carried on along the coast, and into the interior. The adulation of the historians of later kings has had a tendency to depreciate the state of improvement attained under the early dynasties. One claims the institution of posts for his hero, another the establishment of highways with caravanserais and rows of trees ; and Abul Fazl has been the occasion of most of the useful inventions in India being ascribed to Akber. But we have seen from Ibn Batuta that regular horse as well as foot posts existed under Mohammed Tughlak ; and foot posts, to a certain extent, must be coeval with village estab- lishments.19 The roads may have been improved by Shir Shah ; but Ibn Batuta, 200 years before his time, found the highways shaded by trees, with resting-houses and wells at regular intervals along a great part of the coast of Malabar, then under the Hindus ; and in an inscription lately discovered, which there is every reason to think is of the third century before Christ, there is an especial order by the king for digging wells and planting trees along the public highways. It has been said (though not by Abul Fazl) that Akber first coined silver or gold money. The assertion is inconsistent with all history ; if the Hindus had not a coinage in those metals earlier, they at least adopted it from the Bactrian Greeks,20 about the beginning of the Christian era. The Ghaznavites could not have dropped a practice observed by the Samanis and the califs ; and the second coin in Mr. Marsden's collection, belonging to the Delhi kings, is a silver one of Altamish, who died in 1235. 21 If the value of the coins at different periods can be fixed at all, it can only be after long inquiry by a person accustomed to such subjects.22 The first princes used dinars and dirhems, 18 Besides ships from Persia, 21 Marsden's Numismata Orientalia, Arabia, and other neighbouring coun- p. 521. tries, some of the ports of Malabar 22 Some notion of the fluctuations were frequented by large junks from in this respect may be formed from China. (Ibn Batuta, pp. 169, 172.) the following statements : — The dinar 19 Each village has a public mes- under the califs was about equal to senger ; and economy as well as 10s. 8d. (Marsden's Numismata, p. despatch would suggest to the head xvii). In Ibn Batuta's time a of a district to send his letters and western dinar was to an eastern as orders by their means from village to 4 to 1, and an eastern dinar seems to village along the road. have been one-tenth of a tankha, 20 Mr. Prinsep's Useful Tables, p. which, even supposing the tankha 15, and his Researches in the Journal of that day to be equal to a rupee of of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta. Akber, would be only 2±d. (Ibn 480 ARCHITECTURE like the califs ; these were succeeded by tankhas, divided into dams or jitals. Shir Shah changed the name of tankha to that of rupeia, or rupee, which was adopted by Akber ; and^the latter prince fixed the weight and relative value of money on a scale which remained unaltered till the dissolution of the Mogul empire, and is the basis of that now in use. We are enabled, in some degree, to judge of the progress of the early Mussulmans by the specimens they have left of their architecture. The arches of the unfinished mosque near the Kutb Minar, besides their height and the rich ornamental inscriptions with which they are covered, deserve mention as early instances of the pointed arch.23 The centre arch appears by the inscription to have been finished in A.H. 594, A.D. 1197. Many of the buildings of the later princes before Akber have small pointed arches, and seem to betray the incapacity of the builders to erect a dome of any size. Their mosques are composed of a collection of small cupolas, each resting on four pillars ; so that the whole mosque is only a succession of alleys between ranges of pillars, with no clear space of any extent. It is probable, however, that this form may have been retained, as that originally appropriated for mosques, by architects capable of constructing large cupolas. The Black Mosque at Delhi, for instance, is in the ancient style, though built in A.D. 1387, under Firuz Tughlak ; while the tomb of Ghiyas ud din Tughlak, who died in AD. 1325, is covered with one cupola of considerable magnitude/ 24 Batuta, p. 149.) A modern dinar, in the Mogul dominions, until the break- Cabul, is so small that it takes 200 to ing up of the empire in the middle of make an abassi, a coin of less value the last century, when numerous than a shilling. The tankha is said mints sprang up and issued much by Ferishta (vol. i. p. 360) to have debased money. The rupee that now been, in Ala ud din's time, equal to circulates in the Company's terri- fifty jitals (a copper coin which some tories contains 176 grains of pure said was equal to a peisa), and in silver, and exchanges for 64 peisas, Mohammed Tughlak's time .t was so containing 100 grains of copper each, debased as to be worth not more than [Cf. Prinsep's Useful Tables (Mr. 15 peisas. The tankha appears to be Thomas's edit.) and Mr Thomas's the coin represented by the modern papers on the coins of the Pathan rupee, and, perhaps, when at its Sultans in the Numismatic Chronicle. proper standard, was about the same — ED.] value. The rupee of Akber contained M The Kutb Minar, finished by 174' 5 grains of pure silver, and was Altamish between A.D. 1210 and A.D. divided into 40 dams or peisas (of 1236, has pointed arches in the doors. 191 1 grains of copper each). The By examining the ruins of old and dam was divided into 25 jitals (prob- new Delhi alone, a view of the pro- ably a nominal coin). Queen Eliza- gress of Indian architecture might be beth's shilling contained 88'8 grains made out which would throw light on of pure silver ; Akber's rupee, there- the history of the art in the East, fore, was worth Is. \\\d. of English 24 The dome was, no doubt, bor- money of his time. Akber's standard rowed from the buildings of the Greek remained almost unaltered, all over empire ; but the mosques erected VIII. 2 MANNERS 481 The domes at first are low and flat ; they gradually gain elevation till the time of Jehangir, or Shah Jehan, when they take in considerably more than half of a sphere, and are raised upon a cylinder. The arches, also, are different at different times : the early ones are plain Gothic arches ; the latest ones are ogee and horse-shoe arches, feathered all round. The buildings after Akber's accession are much lighter, as well as more lofty and more splendid, than those of an earlier date ; which, on the other hand, make a strong impression from their massive and austere character.25 Though the constant use of the pointed arch, the nature of the tracery, and some other particulars create a resemblance between the Gothic and Indian architecture which strikes every one at first sight, yet the frequency and importance of domes, and the prevalence of horizontal lines in the Indian, make an essential difference between the styles. The more ancient buildings in particular, which in other respects are most like the Gothic, are marked by a bold and unbroken cornice formed of flat stones, projecting very far, and supported by deep brackets or modilions of the same material. Even the abundance of turrets and pinnacles does not in- crease the resemblance to the Gothic ; for they seldom taper at all, and never much ; and they always end in a dome, which sometimes bulges out beyond the circumference of the turret. The early Mussulmans were stout and ruddy men, dressed in short tunics of thick cloth, and always in boots. Those of Aurangzib's time were generally slender, dark, and sallow, and wore long white gowns of the thinnest muslin, which spread out from the waist in innumerable folds, and scarcely showed the naked foot and embroidered slipper. It is difficult to ascertain the gradation by which this change, and a corre- sponding alteration in manners, were effected. It must have begun soon after the dissolution of the con- nexion with Ghazni and Ghor. Ibn Batuta, in the middle of the fourteenth century, mentions the use of bitel, and notices peculiarities in the cookery, and what he calls oddity in the manners ; and Baber, early in the sixteenth, is shocked to find everything so unlike what he is used to.26 It is probable after it had once been fully estab- character of their edifices." (Bishop lished in India are incomparably Heber's Journal, vol. i. p. 565.) superior in the elegance of their 26 Baber' s account is amusing, exterior to St. Sophia. being written with all the violent 25 " These Patans built like giants, prejudice still felt by persons just and finished their work like jewellers. arrived from Cabul or from Europe. Yet the ornaments, florid as they are " Hindostan is a country that has in their proper places, are never few pleasures to recommend it. The thrown away, or allowed to interfere people are not handsome. They with the general severe and solemn have no idea of the charms of friendly I I 482 MAHOMETAN LITERATURE that the greatest alteration took place after the accession of the house of Timur, when the influx of foreigners was stopped by hostile feelings towards the Uzbeks and Afghans, and by religious prejudices against the Persians.27 It was the direct policy of Akber that the manners of the Mahometans should assimilate to those of the original natives. This mixture probably softened the manners of the people from the first ; but it was some time before it had any effect on the government. There were many more instances of cruelty and perfidy under the slave kings than in the time of Mahmud and his successors. Such atrocities under the succeeding dynasties were generally owing to the tyrannical disposition of an individual, or the revolts of foreign troops ; and under most of the princes of the house of Timur the general character of the government approached to the mildness and moderation of European sovereignties. Purely Mahometan literature flourished most in India during the period to which we are now adverting, and fell off after the accession of Akber. Improvements in science were, doubtless, obtained from Hindu and European sources ; but, I believe, there is no eminent specimen of Persian composition in India after the epoch mentioned. The great superiority of Mahometan writers over their predecessors in Sanscrit is in history, and is derived from the Arabs. Though often verbose on ordinary topics, and silent on those of interest, deficient in critical skill and philosophical spirit, and not exempt from occasional puerility and exaggera- tion, their histories always present a connected narrative of the progress of events, show a knowledge of geography, a minute attention to dates, and a laudable readiness to quote authorities, which place them immeasurably above the vague fables of the Brahmins. It is surprising that so little is known of the modern language of the Indian Mahometans. society, or frankly mixing together, clumsy substitutes for the last useful or of familiar intercourse. They have articles. (Erskine's Baber, p. 333.) no genius, no comprehension of mind, ^ So complete was the separation no politeness of manners, no kindness, at last, that Aurangzib treats the Per- no fellow-feeling, no ingenuity or sians (the original models of the mechanical invention in planning or Indian Mussulmans) as rude bar- executing their handicraft works, no barians, and hardly ever mentions skill or knowledge in design or archi- their name without a rhyming addi- tecture ; they have no good horses, tioii, which may be translated, no good flesh, no grapes or musk " monsters of the wilds." [We may melons, no good fruits, no ice or cold compare the separation which took water, no good food or bread in place between the Normans who their bazars, no baths or colleges, no settled in England and their brethren candles, no torches, not a candlestick." in Normandy. — ED.] He then goes on to ridicule their VIII. 2 THE LANGUAGE 483 After the founding of the kingdom of Delhi, the conversa- tion of their wives and children, as well as their continual intercourse with the natives, must have taught the conquerors to speak the language of the country, in which most of the roots were Sanscrit, but the forms and inflexions more like modern Hindostani. It is not likely that this language re- mained long unmixed ; though the progress of its change into that now spoken has not yet been traced by any orientalist. It is stated by a modern Mahometan writer,28 that the language took its present form during Timur's invasion ; and, although it cannot be supposed that an incursion which lasted less than a year, and left no traces but in blood, could affect the language of a nation, yet it is not improbable that the beginning of the fifteenth century may have formed a marked epoch in the progress of Hindostani. It could have made little progress before the end of the twelfth century, as it is formed on the Indian dialect of Canouj, and not on that of the Pan jab, the only province previously occupied.29 The use of this mixed language in composition must have been of a later date ; for though Mr. Colebrooke mentions a Hindu poet who wrote at Amber (or Jeipur) about the be- ginning of the sixteenth century, and who sometimes borrowed words from the Persian, yet he states that even Mahometan poets at first wrote in the pure local dialect above mentioned, which, he says, was called Hindi or Hindevi ; and the specimens given in a Persian book on the poets of India (written in A.D. 1752), although all composed by Mahometans, do not introduce Persian or Arabic till near the end of the series. The earliest of the celebrated poets in modern Hindostan is Wall, who wrote in the middle of the seventeenth century. He is followed by a long train down to the present time. Their compositions are, in general, mere imitations of the Persians. It is probable, however, that they had the merit of introducing satires on manners and domestic life in Asia ; for those of the Arabs and Persians1 seem to have been invectives against individuals, like Ferdousi's against Mahmud. The best author in this branch of poetry is Souda, who lived late in the last century. The other dialects (as those of Bengal, Guzerat, etc.), and also the languages of the Deckan, have admitted Persian and Arabic words in great numbers, but without forming a new language like the Hindostani. 8 Quoted in Dr. Gilohrist's Hindo- ches, vol. vii. p. 220. [Cf. M. Garcin stdni Philology. de Tussy's Hist, de la Litt. Hindoui 9 Mr. Colebrooke, Asiatic Resear- et Hindoustani, vol. i. — ED.] BOOK IX AKBER CHAPTER I FROM A.D. Io56, A.H. 963 TO A.D. 1586, A.H. 995 Accession of Akber, A.D. 1556, A.H. 963 — Bairam Khan — Loss of Cabul — Defeat and death of Hemu, Nov. 5, A.D. 1556 ; Moharram 2, A.H. 964 — Recovery of Delhi and Agra — Campaign in the Panjab — Submission of Secander Sur — Arbitrary government of Bairam Khan — General discontent at court — Akber assumes the government — Perplexity of Bairam — He revolts, September, A.D. 1650 ; Moharram, A.H. 968 — His submission and pardon — His death — Difficult situation of the young king — His plan for restoring and consolidating the empire — Extent of his territory — Insubordination and rebellions of his officers, A.D. 1560, A.H. 968 to A.D. 1564, A.H. 972— Quelled after a de- sultory struggle — Affairs of Cabul — Nominal government of Prince Hakim, Akber's brother — Hakim invades the Panjab — Revolt of the Mirzas — They fly to Guzerat — Miscellaneous occurrences — Foreign affairs — The Rajputs — Conquest of Guzerat, September, A.D. 1572; Jamada'l awwal, A.H. 980 — Conquest of Bengal, A.D. 1576, A.H. 984 — State of that province — Mutiny of the troops in Bengal and Behar, A.D. 1579, A.H. 987 — Insurrection of the Afghans in Bengal — Final settlement of the province after fifteen years of disturbance — Revolt of Prince Hakim, February, A.D. 1581 ; Moharram, A.H. 989 — Re- duction of Cabul — Insurrection in Guzerat, A.D. 1581, A.H. 989. AKBER was only thirteen years and four months old at his father's death, and though unusually manly and intelligent for his age, was obviously incapable of administering the government. He had been sent by Humayun as the nominal head of the army in the Panjab, but the real command was vested in Bairam Khan ; and the same relation was preserved after Akber's accession. Bairam received a title equivalent to that of ' the king's father," 1 and was invested with the unlimited exercise of all the powers of sovereignty. The nobleman thus trusted was a Turkman by birth,2 and 1 It was " Khan Baba," which is Shah Ismail to assist Baber in the the Persian for the title of Atabek, so common among the Turks, both meaning " Lord Father." 2 [Bairam Khan was originally a subject of Persia and a Shiah, and had accompanied the army sent by conquest of Transoxiana. He had escaped when the army was routed, and had ever since served Baber and his family. Abul Fazl is his warm panegyrist. (Erskine.) — ED.] 484 IX. 1 BAIRAM KHAN 485 had been a distinguished officer under Humayun before his expulsion from India. In the final defeat of that monarch by Shir Shah, Bairam was separated from his master, and made his way, after a long series of dangers and adventures, through Guzerat to Sind, where he joined Humayun, in the third year after his expulsion. He was received with joy by the whole of the exiled party, who seem already to have rightly estimated his value in times of difficulty. He became thenceforward the most confidential of Humayun's officers ; and it would have been better for the affairs of his sovereign if they had borne more of the impress of his determined character. At the time of Humayun's death Bairam was engaged in putting an end to the resistance of Secander Sur, who had re- tired to the skirts of the northern mountains, and still retained his pretensions to be king of Delhi and the Panjab. He had scarcely time to arrange the new government, when he received intelligence that Mirza Soleiman of Badakhshan had taken possession of Cabul and all that part of Humayun's late do- minions ; and while he was considering the means of repairing this disaster, he learned that Hemu had set out with an army on the part of Sultan Adali, for the double purpose of expelling the Moguls and reducing the rebellion of Secander Sur. The result of this contest has been already told.3 The Afghans were defeated ; and Hemu, who fought with desperate valour, and had continued to resist after he had received a mortal wound from an arrow through the eye, at length fell senseless on his elephant, and was taken prisoner and brought to Akber's tent. Bairam wras desirous that Akber should give him the first wound, and thus, by imbruing his sword in the blood of so distinguished an infidel, should establish his right to the envied title oT " Ghazi," or " Champion of the Faith " ; but the spirited boy refused to strike a wounded enemy, and Bairam, irritated by his scruples, himself cut off the captive's head at a blow. Akber soon after took possession of Delhi and Agra. He was, before long, obliged to return to the Panjab. by intelligence that Secander Sur had issued from the mountains, and possessed himself of a great portion of the province. The plain country was easily recovered, and Secander retired to the strong fort of Mankot.4 He defended that place with obstinacy ; and it was not till after eight months' operations that he capitulated, and was allowed to retire to Bengal, which was still held by an officer of the Afghan dynasty. The real restoration of the House of Tamerlane may be 3 See p. 451. Sewalik mountains, to control the 4 [It had been built by Selim Shah, Gakkars. — ED.] on the furthest outskirts of the 486 AKBER AND BAIRAM dated from this period : " it had been brought about entirely through the exertions of Bairam Khan, whose power was now at the highest pitch ever reached by a subject, and already began to show distinct indications of decline. Bairam's military talents, and the boldness and vigour of his government, had enabled him to surmount external diffi- culties under which a less determined leader would have sunk ; and even his arbitrary and inflexible disposition was essential to the maintenance of subordination in an army of adventurers, whose disorders Humayun had never been able to repress, and which must soon have overturned the government after it fell into the hands of a minor. His domination was therefore submitted to without a murmur as long as the general safety depended on his exercise of it ; but when the fear of immediate destruction was removed, the pressure of his rule began to be felt, and was rendered more intolerable by some of the vices of his nature. His temper was harsh and severe, his manners haughty and overbearing. He was jealous of his authority to the last degree, exacted unbounded obedience and respect, and could not suffer the smallest pretension to power or influence derived from any source but his favour. These qualities soon raised up a host of enemies, and, in time, alienated the mind of the king, now advancing towards manhood, and impatient of the insignificance to which he was reduced by the dictatorial proceedings of his minister. His indignation was increased by the injustice of some of Bairam's acts of power. As early as the battle with Hemu, Bairam took advantage of Akber's absence on a hawking party, to put to death Tardi Beg. the former governor of Delhi, without even the ceremony of taking the king's orders on so solemn an occasion.5 The victim had been one of Baber's favourite companions, and had accompanied Humayun in all his wanderings, but had no doubt exposed himself to punish- ment for his premature evacuation of Delhi. One day, while Akber was amusing himself with an elephant fight, one of these animals ran off the field, pursued by its antagonist, and followed by a promiscuous crowd of spectators : it rushed through the tents of Bairam, some of which were thrown down ; thus exposing the minister himself to danger, while it threw all around him into the utmost confusion and alarm. Irritated by this seeming affront, and perhaps suspecting a secret design against his life, Bairam ordered the elephant driver to be put 5 [Tardi Beg and Bairam were old the able and ambitious Bairam — the rivals under Humayun ; the former Transoxian chiefs looking up to him was one of the oldest Chaghatai as much as those from Persia did to nobles, and he stood in the way of Bairam (Erftkine). — ED.] IX. 1 FALL OF BAIRAM 487 to death, and for some time maintained a reserved and sullen demeanour towards the king himself. A nobleman of conse- quence enough to oppose Bairam was put to death on some slight charge by that minister. The king's own tutor, Pir Mohammed Khan, narrowly escaped the same fate, and was banished, on pretence of a pilgrimage to Mecca. Those about the king's person were constantly harassed by Bairam's distrustful temper, and were provoked by his persecutions to realize his suspicions of their enmity. At length Akber was driven to make an effort to deliver himself from the thraldom in which he lived. He concerted a plan with those around him, and took occasion, when on a hunting party, to make an unexpected journey to Delhi, on the plea of a sudden illness of his mother. He was no sooner beyond the sphere of the minister's influence than he issued a proclamation, announcing that he had taken the government into his own hands, and forbidding obedience to orders issued by any other than his authority. Bairam's eyes were opened by these proceedings ; and he exerted himself, when too late, to recover the king's confidence. He sent two of his principal adherents to court ; but Akber, nowise mollified by this submission, refused to see the envoys, and soon after committed them to prison. This open separation was not long in producing its natural effect ; all ranks forsook the falling minister, to court the sovereign, from whose youthful virtues, and even weaknesses, they expected a happy contrast to the strict control of Bairam. The minister, thus left to his own resources, meditated various schemes for retrieving his power : he once thought of seizing the king's person, and afterwards of setting up an independent principality in Malwa ; but the support he met with did not encourage him, and he probably was at heart reluctant to draw his sword against the son of his old master ; he therefore set off for Nagor, with the avowed intention of embarking in Guzerat for Mecca. At Nagor he lingered, as if in hopes of some change in his fortunes, until he received a message from Akber, dismissing him from his office, and directing him to proceed on his pil- grimage without delay. On this he sent his standards, kettle- drums, and other ensigns of authority to the king, and set out, in a private character, on his way to Guzerat ; but, irritated at some further proceedings of Akber, he again changed his mind, assembled a body of troops, and, going openly into insurrection, attempted an invasion of the Panjab. He was disappointed in his reception in that province. Akber moved against him in person, and sent detachments to intercept him ; he was defeated by one of those detachments, constrained to 488 BAIRAM KILLED A.D 1560, A.H. 968 fly to the hills, and at length reduced to throw himself on the king's mercy. Akber did not, on this occasion, forget the great services of his former minister. He sent his principal nobility to meet him at some distance, and to conduct him at once to the royal tent. When Bairam appeared in Akber's presence, he threw himself at his feet, and, moved by former recollections, began to sob aloud. Akber instantly raised him with his own hand, seated him on his right, and, after investing him with a dress of honour, gave him his choice of one of the principal governments under the crown, a high station at court, or an honourable dismissal on his pilgrimage to Mecca. Bairam's pride and prudence equally counselled the latter course. He was assigned a liberal pension, and proceeded to Guzerat ; but, while he was preparing for his embarkation, he was assassinated by an Afghan, whose father he had killed in battle during the reign of Humayun. The charge which Akber had now taken on himself seemed beyond the strength of a youth of eighteen ; but the young king was possessed of more than usual advantages, both from nature and education. He was born in the midst of hardships, and brought up in captivity. His courage was exercised in his father's wars, and his prudence called forth by the delicacy of his situation during the ascendency of Bairam. He was engaging in his manners, well formed in his person, excelled in all exercises of strength and agility, and showed exuberant courage even in his amuse- ments, as in taming unbroken horses and elephants, and in rash encounters with tigers and other wild beasts. Yet with this disposition, and a passionate love of glory, he founded his hopes of fame at least as much on the wisdom and liberality of his government as on its military success. It required all his great qualities to maintain him in the situation in which he was placed. Of all the dynasties that had yet ruled in India, that of Tamerlane was the weakest and the most insecure in its founda- tions. The Houses of Ghazni and Ghor depended on their native kingdom, which was contiguous to their Indian con- quest ; and the slave dynasties were supported by the continual influx of their countrymen ; but though Baber had been in some measure naturalized in Cabul, yet the separation of that country under Camran had broken its connexion with India, and the rival of an Afghan dynasty turned the most warlike part of its inhabitants, as well as of the Indian Mussulmans, into enemies. The only adherents of the House of Tamerlane were a body of adventurers, whose sole bond of union was their common advantage during success. IX. 1 AKBER'S PURPOSE 489 The weakness arising from this want of natural support had been shown in the easy expulsion of Humayun, and was still felt in the early part of the reign of his son. It was probably by these considerations, joined to a generous and candid nature, that Akber was led to form the noble design of putting himself at the head of the whole Indian nation, and forming the inhabitants of that vast territory, without distinc- tion of race or religion, into one community. This policy was steadily pursued throughout his reign. He admitted Hindus to every degree of power, and Mussulmans of every party to the highest stations in the service, according to their rank and merit : until, as far as his dominions extended, they were filled with a loyal and united people. But these were the fruits of time ; and the first calls on Akber 's attention were of an urgent nature : — 1. To establish his authority over his chiefs. 2. To recover the dominions of the crown. 3. To restore, in the internal administration of them, that order which had been lost amidst so many revolutions.6 In the first years of Akber 's reign, his territory was confined to the Pan jab and the country round Delhi and Agra. In the third year, he acquired Ajmir without a battle ; early in the fourth, he obtained the fort of Gwalior ; and, not long before Bairam's fall, he had driven the Afghans out of Lucknow and the country on the Ganges as far east as Jounpur. The adherents of the house of Sur that still remained in those days were under Shir Shah II., a son of the last king, A'dil ; and, soon after Akber took charge of his own govern- ment, that prince advanced with a considerable army to Joun- pur, in the hope of recovering his dominions. He was totally defeated by Khan Zeman, a chief of Akber's ; but the victor, despising the youth and feeble resources of his master, withheld the king's share of the booty, and showed so great a spirit of independence that Akber found it necessary to proceed in person towards the residence of the refractory governor. His presence produced more dutiful behaviour, but the disposition to insubordination was only kept under for the time. The next affectation of independence was in Malwa. That province had remained in possession of Baz Bahadur, one of the officers of the Afghan kings,7 and an attempt had been made to dispossess him during the administration of Bairam Khan. The undertaking was renewed with more vigour by Akber. Adham Khan, the officer employed, succeeded in 6 [Akber's policy thus combines in France. — ED.] that of Servius Tullius in Rome with 7 [He was the son of the old that of Philip Augustus or Philip IV. governor, Shuja' Khan. — ED.] 490 ADHAM KHAN A.D. 1560, A.H. 968 defeating and expelling Baz Bahadur,8 but was as little dis- posed as Khan Zeman to part with the fruits of his victory. Akber did not wait for any open act of mutiny : he dis- concerted the ill designs of his general by a rapid march to his camp ; and Adham Khan, unprepared for so sudden a crisis, lost no time in making his submission : his offence was readily pardoned ; but he was soon after removed from his government, which was given to the king's former tutor, Pir Mohammed Khan. This man, bred to letters, showed none of the virtues to be expected, either from his old profession or his present station. He was invaded by Baz Bahadur ; and, although he gained considerable successes at first, he stained them by the massacre of the inhabitants of two cities of which he had obtained possession, and was ultimately defeated and drowned in the Nerbadda ; the whole province falling into the hands of its old possessor. Baz Bahadur was finally subdued by Abdulla Khan Uzbek, whom Akber immediately sent against him. At a subsequent period he entered the service of the emperor, whose liberal policy always left that resource for his conquered enemies. The ungovernable spirit of Adham Khan was not tamed by his removal from power ; for, on some subsequent rivalry with Akber's vazir, he stabbed him while at prayers, in a room adjoining to that occupied by the young king. Akber ran out on hearing the disturbance, and his first impulse was to revenge the death of his minister with his own hand : he restrained himself sufficiently to sheathe his sword, but ordered the murderer to be thrown from the lofty building where his offence took place. Nor was Abdulla Khan less unruly in his government of Malwa : within a little more than a year of the conquest of the province he obliged Akber to move against him in person ; and having in vain attempted to oppose the royal army, he fled to Guzerat, and took refuge with the king of that country. His fate was viewed with dissatisfaction by several other Uzbeks, who occupied commands in Akber's army. They suspected that the young monarch was actuated by a dislike to their race, such as a descendant of Baber might 8 An affecting incident occurred on threatened violence, she appointed this occasion. Baz Bahadur had a an hour to receive him, put on her Hindu mistress who is said to have most splendid dress, on which she been one of the most beautiful sprinkled the richest perfumes, and women ever seen in India. She was laydown on her couch with her mantle as accomplished as she was fair, and drawn over her face. Her attend- was celebrated for her verses in the ants thought that she had fallen Hindu language. She fell into the asleep, but on endeavouring to wake hands of Adham Khan on the flight her on the approach of the Khan, of Baz Bahadur ; and finding herself they found she had taken poison and unable to resist his importunities and was already dead. — (Khd/i Khan.) IX. 1 REBELLIONS OF THE CHIEFS 491 well be supposed to entertain ; and they shared with many military leaders in their impatience of the subordination to which their class was about to be reduced. In this spirit they revolted, and were joined by Khan Zeman, before mentioned, and by A'saf Khan, another nobleman, who had lately distin- guished himself by the conquest of Garrah, a principality on the Nerbadda, bordering on Bundelcand. It was governed by a queen, who opposed the Mahometan general in an unsuccess- ful action, when, seeing her army routed, and being herself severely wounded, she avoided falling into the hands of the enemy by stabbing herself with her dagger. Her treasures, which were of great value, fell into the hands of A'saf Khan ; he secreted the greater part, and the detection of this em- bezzlement was the immediate cause of his revolt. The war with these rebels was attended with various success, and with alternate submission and renewed defection on the part of more than one of the chiefs. It occupied Akber for more than two years ; and was concluded by an act of courage very characteristic of the conqueror. Akber had made great progress in reducing the rebellion, when he was drawn off by an invasion, of the Pan jab, under his brother Hakim. This occupied him for several months ;. and on his return he found the rebels had recovered their ground, and were in possession of most parts of the Subahs of Oudh and Allahabad. He marched against them without delay, though it was the height of the rainy season ; drove them across the Ganges ; and when they thought themselves secure behind that swollen river, he made a forced march through a flooded country, swam the Ganges at nightfall with his advanced guard of not 2,000 men on horses and elephants, and, after lying concealed during the night, attacked the enemy about sunrise. The rebels, though aware of the approach of a small body of horse, were quite unprepared for an attack ; and Khan Zeman having been killed, and another principal chief unhorsed and made prisoner, in the first confusion, they lost all the advantage of their numbers, fell into complete disorder, and soon after dispersed and fled in all directions. The invasion from Cabul which had interrupted Akber 's operations had its origin in much earlier events. Two of Akber 's chiefs, Abul Maali 9 and Sherf ud din, had revolted at Nagor, before the Uzbek rebellion (in A.D. 1561, A.M. 969), had defeated the king's troops, and advanced towards Delhi : they were afterwards driven back in their turn, and forced to 9 [Abul Maali was a sayyid of of ability, but his overbearing temper Kashghar, who entered Humayun's led him into continual rivalry with service about 1551. He was a man Bairam Khan. — ED.] 492 HAKIM A.D. 1563, A.H. 971 seek for safety beyond the Indus. They retired with the remains of their force to Cabul, where circumstances secured them a favourable reception. That kingdom was left at the death of Humayun under the nominal government of his infant son, Mirza Hakim, and im- mediately after was overrun, as has been mentioned,10 by his relation, Soleiman of Badakhshan ; and, though soon after- wards recovered, was never really in obedience to Akber.11 The government was in the hands of the prince's mother, who maintained her difficult position with ability, though not more exposed to danger from foreign enemies than from the plots and usurpations of her own ministers. She had recently been delivered from a crisis of the latter description, when she was joined by the rebellious chiefs from India ; and before long she was induced to confide the control of her affairs to Abul Maali. That adventurer at first showed himself a useful minister ; but his secret views were directed to objects very different from the establishment of the Begum's authority, and as soon as he had himself formed a party in the kingdom, he had her assassinated, and took the government into his own hands. The aid of Mirza Soleiman was now invoked, and the result was the death and defeat of Abul Maali (1563). Mirza Soleiman affected to leave his young relation in possession of Cabul, but really placed him under the tutelage of one of his dependants, whose yoke was so irk- some that Mirza Hakim rose against it ; and, after a struggle with Soleiman, was overcome and chased out of Cabul. This took place in the last year of the war with the Uzbek chiefs ; and Hakim, although he had received such assistance as the times admitted from Akber, yet, conceiving his brother's hands to be fully occupied with the rebellion, at once resolved to indemnify himself at his expense, seized on Lahor, and took possession of the greater part of the Pan jab. This inva- sion ended in the expulsion of Prince Hakim from India (November, 1566) ; and an opportune change of circumstances at the same moment opened the way for his return to Cabul, of which country he remained for a considerable period in undisturbed possession. During these transactions, and before the final close of the operations against the Uzbeks, another revolt had taken place in India, which ultimately led to important consequences. Sultan Mirza, a prince of the House of Tamerlane, had come to India with Baber ; he had rebelled against Humayun, and though subdued and pardoned, his four sons and three nephews took advantage of the general disturbance just mentioned, 10 See p. 485. u [But Cf. pp. 500, 505.— ED.] IX. 1 REVOLT OF THE MIRZAS 493 and revolted at Sambal, the government which had been assigned to their father. At first they were overpowered without an effort ; and the danger from them seemed to be completely at an end, when they were compelled to fly to Guzerat (1566) ; yet they there sowed the seeds of future troubles, which only ended with the subjugation of the kingdom. Some instances occurred during the disturbances above related, which, although they had no important results, yet serve to show the state of society at the time. During the insurrection of Sherf ud din, as Akber was going in procession to a celebrated shrine, an archer, who, it afterwards appeared, belonged to the rebel chief, mixed with the spectators, and, pretending to discharge his arrow at a bird which was flying over him, suddenly brought it down in the direction of the emperor, and lodged it some inches deep in his shoulder. He was instantly seized, and Akber was entreated to put off his execution, and to extort a disclosure of the name of his instigator ; but he said that a confession in such circumstances was more likely to criminate the innocent than the guilty, and allowed the punishment to take its course.12 On another occasion, Khaja Moazzim, a near relation of Akber through his mother, had given way to a violent temper, and treated his wife with such brutality, that her relations applied to Akber to intercede with him, and prevail on him to leave her with her mother when he was about to remove to his jagir. Akber took an opportunity, while going out on a hunting party, to pay him a visit in his house near Delhi ; but the monster guessed his design, and, running to his female apartment before Akber had alighted, stabbed his wife to the heart, and threw the bloody dagger from the window among the king's attend- ants. When Akber entered the house he found him armed for resistance, and narrowly escaped death from one of his slaves, who was cut down as he was making a blow at the emperor. Akber, incensed at these atrocities, ordered Moazzim to be thrown headlong into the Jumna : he did not immediately sink ; and Akber relented and ordered him to be taken out and imprisoned in Gwalior, where he soon after died a maniac.13 On one of Akber 's marches he found two great bodies of Hindu devotees, prepared, according to their custom,14 to con- tend sword in hand for the possession of a place for bathing during a great annual festival at Tanesar. He endeavoured at first by all means to bring about an amicable settlement ; but, finding all was in vain, he determined to allow them to fight it out, and looked on at the conflict in which they 12 Khafi Khan. Akbernameh. 13 Akbernameh. 14 See p. 65. 494 THE RAJPXJTS A.D. 1567-8, A.H. 975 immediately engaged. At length one party prevailed, and Akber, to prevent the slaughter that would have followed, ordered his guards to check the victors, and thus put an end to the battle.15 During this struggle with the military aristocracy, Akber was fighting for his crown no less than in his contests with the successors of Shir Shah ; but by the time he had completed his twenty-fifth year he had crushed his adversaries by his vigour, or attached them by his clemency, and had time to turn his thoughts to foreign countries. The first which at- tracted his attention was that of the Rajput princes. Bahara Mai, the raja of Amber (now Jeipur), was always on friendly terms with him, and had, at an early period, given his daughter in marriage to Akber ; both he and his son, Bhagavan Das, being at the same time admitted to a high rank in the imperial army. Soon after the fall of Bairam (A.D. 1561, A.H. 969) he had sent a force against Marwar, and by the capture of the strong fort of Mirta had made an impression on that country which he was unable to follow up. He now turned his arms against the rana of Chitor (or Oudipur). U'di Sing, the reigning rana, was the son of Baber's competitor, Rana Sanga, but was a man of feeble character. On the approach of Akber he with- drew from Chitor, and retreated into the hilly and woody country north of Guzerat. His absence did not facilitate the capture of the fortress. There was still a strong garrison under Jei Mai, a chief of great courage and ability ; and the place, though twice taken before, was still regarded by the Rajputs of Mewar as a sort of sanctuary of their monarchy. Akber carried on his approaches with caution and regularity. His trenches are minutely described by Ferishta, and closely resemble those of modern Europe. They were zigzags, pro- tected by gabions and by earth thrown from the trench. The object, however, was not to establish a breaching battery, but to get near enough for sinking mines. This was done in two places ; and the troops being prepared for the occasion, fire was set to the train. The explosion was the signal for the storming party to rush forward ; but it had only taken effect in one of the mines ; and while the soldiers were climbing up the breach, the second mine exploded, destroyed many of both parties, and struck such a panic as to occasion the immediate flight of the assailants. The operations of the siege had now to be recommenced ; but Akber, one night, in visiting the trenches, perceived Jei Mai on the works, where he was superintending some repairs 13 Akbernameh. IX. 1 MATRIMONIAL CONNECTIONS 495 by torch-light ; he immediately singled him out, and was so fortunate as to shoot him through the head with his own hand. The garrison lost heart on the death of their gallant leader ; and, with their usual infatuation, abandoned the breaches and withdrew to the interior of the fort, where they devoted them- selves with the accustomed solemnities. The women were committed to the flames with the body of Jei Mai, and the men ran out to meet death from the Mussulmans, who had mounted the ramparts unopposed. Eight thousand men were killed on this occasion, by the Rajput account ; and the Mahometan writers make the number still greater.10 The rana, notwith- standing the loss of his capital, remained independent in his fastnesses. Nine years afterwards his son and successor, Rana Pertab, was deprived of his strongholds of Komulner and Gogunda (probably in A.D. 1578, A.H. 986 17), and was compelled for a time to fly towards the Indus. But, unlike his father, he was an active high-spirited prince ; and his perseverance was rewarded by success : before the death of Akber he re- covered a great portion of the open part of his dominions, and founded the new capital called Oudipur, which is still occupied by his descendants.18 His house, alone, of the Rajput royal families has rejected all matrimonial connexions with the kings of Delhi ; and has even renounced all affinity with the other rajas, looking on them as contaminated by their inter- course with an alien race. Such connexions were zealously promoted by Akber, and were long kept up by his successors. He himself had two Rajput queens, of the Houses of Jeipur and Marwar ; and his eldest son was married to another princess of Jeipur. The bride, on these occasions, acquired a natural influence over her husband ; her issue had equal claims to the throne with those born of a Mahometan mother ; and the connexion was on a footing of so much equality, that, from being looked on with repugnance as a loss of cast, it soon came to be coveted as an honourable alliance with the family of the sovereign.* In the course of the next year Akber took the strong hill- forts of Bintambor and Calinjer ; he went in person against the former place. On a subsequent occasion, being near the frontier of Jodpur, Maldeo, the old raja of Jodptir, sent his 16 One body of 2,00 ; men. escaped 17 Ferishta. Muiitakhab ut Ta- by an extraordinary stratagem : they warikh. bound the hands of their own women 18 Tod's Rdjasthdn, vol. i. p.332,etc. nd children, and marched with them * [For a very interesting illustra- hrough the troops who had stormed tion to show how the Rajputs really he place, as if they had been a de- regarded these marriages, see Kay's achment of the besiegers in charge Life of Lord Metcalfe, vol. i. p. 416. of prisoners. — ED.] 496 GUZERAT A.D. 1572, A.H. 980 second son to meet him.19 This Akber resented, as an imper- fect substitute for his own appearance ; and afterwards, assuming a superiority to which he was not entitled, made a formal grant of Jodpur to Rai Sing of Bikanir, a junior member of the same family. Rai Sing, however, did not obtain possession ; and, on the death of Maldeo, his son submitted, and was afterwards treated with the greatest favour and distinction by the emperor.20 Akber's attention was soon after drawn to an enterprise of great magnitude, involving the re-annexation of Guzerat to the empire. That kingdom had passed, on the death of Bahadur Shah, to his nephew Mahmud II. ; and on the death of the latter king, his favourite, Etimad Khan, who had been a Hindu slave, carried on the government in the name of a boy whom he pretended to be a son of Mahmud, and who bore the title of Mozaffer III. The usurpation was opposed by another chief named Chengiz Khan ; and it was with this last person that the Mirzas, whose revolt was mentioned in A.D. 1566, took refuge on their flight. Their extravagant pretensions soon drove them into a quarrel with their protector ; and, after some partial success, they were expelled from Guzerat, and made an attempt to seize on Malwa, not long after the taking of Chitor, in A.D. 1568. Akber forthwith sent an army against them, but its services were not required, for Chengiz Khan had in the meantime been assassinated, and the Mirzas returned to Guzerat to take advantage of the confusion which followed. Those confusions continued to rage without intermission till the year 1572, when Akber was solicited by Etimad Khan to put an end to the distractions of Guzerat by taking the kingdom into his own possession. He marched from Delhi in September, 1572, and soon reached Patan, between which place and Ahmedabad he was met by the pageant king Mozaffer, who formally transferred his crown to the emperor of Delhi. Some time was spent in reducing refractory chiefs ; in endea- vours to seize the Mirzas, or, at least, to disperse their troops ; and in the siege of Surat, which was carried on by the king in person. Before the place was invested, the principal Mirzas quitted it with a light detachment, and endeavoured to join their main body in the north of Guzerat. Akber made a sudden and rapid movement to intercept them, and succeeded in over- taking them before they had attained their object. He had advanced with such inconsiderate haste that he found himself in front of his enemy, who were 1,000 strong, with a party which, after waiting to allow stragglers to come up, amounted only to 156 men. With this handful he commenced the attack, 19 Ferishta. 20 Tod's Rdjusthdn, vol. ii. p. 34. IX. 1 AKBER'S TEMERITY 497 but was repulsed, and compelled to take his stand in some lanes formed by strong hedges of cactus, where not more than three horses could advance abreast. He was hard pressed, and once was separated from his men, and nearly overpowered. But in his small band were several chiefs of note, and among the rest Raja Bhagavan Sing, of Jeipur, with his nephew and adopted son, Raja Man Sing ; and it was to the exertions of these two that Akber owed his personal deliverance, and the ultimate success of the day. The Mirzas, however, effected their junction with their troops. They afterwards dispersed, met with different adventures, and came to various ends. One was cut off in Guzerat ; the principal ones made their way to the north of India, and after suffering a defeat from Raja Rai Sing near Nagor, revisited their original seat of Sambal, and when driven thence they plundered in the Pan jab, and again pursued their flight towards the Indus, until they fell into the hands of the king's officers, and were put to death. One only of the Mirzas, named Husein, fled from Guzerat into the hills near Khandesh, and remained unnoticed ; while Akber returned to Agra, having once more annexed Guzerat to his crown. He had not been a month at his capital, when he learned that Mirza Husein had again entered Guzerat, had been joined by one of the principal officers of the former king, and had already reduced the royal troops of the province to a defensive position, which they found some difficulty in maintaining. The rains had also set in, so that the march of a regular army was impossible ; but Akber, with the activity, and perhaps temerity, that characterized him, at once determined to re- trieve his affairs in person. He sent off 2,000 horse to make the best of their way to Patan, and soon after followed himself with 300 persons (chiefly men of rank) on camels. He per- formed the journey of more than 450 miles with such celerity that, in spite of the season, he had assembled his troops, and faced his enemy at the head of 3,000 men, on the ninth day from leaving Agra. His force was still very unequal to that of the rebels ; but they were astonished at the sudden appari- tion of the emperor, and were, moreover, engaged in a siege, and exposed to a sally from the garrison. Akber, therefore, though again exposed to imminent personal hazard from his own thoughtless impetuosity, was at last successful. Both the insurgents were killed ; and tranquillity being completely restored, he again returned to Agra.21 1 Before this battle, while Akber ing under the weight of a suit of mail. was arming, he saw a stripling (the out of all proportion to his strength, son of one of the Rajput rajas) labour- He immediately exchanged it for a K K 498 CONQUEST OF BENGAL A.D. 1575, A.H. 983 Akber's next great enterprise was the conquest of Bengal. Part of Behar had been occupied after the defeat of Shir Shah II., in A.D. 1560 ; the rest of the province, with all the country to the east of it, was still to be subdued. Bengal had revolted from Sultan A'dil before the return of Humayun, and had remained under different Afghan kings till now. It was held by Daud, a weak and debauched prince, who had been nearly supplanted by his vazir, and was engaged in a civil war occa- sioned by his execution of this dangerous minister. Akber had profited by these dissensions to obtain a promise of tribute from Daud : a temporary prospect of security had led that unsteady prince to reassert his independence, and the king thought the occasion favourable for going against him in person. He left Agra in the height of the rainy season, availing himself of the Jumna and the Ganges for the transport of his stores and part of his army. He scarcely met with any opposition during his advance into Behar. Daud Khan retired to Bengal Proper ; and Akber left his lieutenants to pursue the conquest, and returned himself to Agra. The reduction of Bengal did not prove so easy a task as was expected. Although Daud at first withdrew to Orissa,22 he afterwards twice encountered and routed the royal troops ; and when at length defeated himself, and driven to the shores of the Bay of Bengal, he was strong enough to make terms and to retain the province of Orissa for himself. One of the most distinguished of the commanders in this war was Raja Todar Mai, so celebrated as Akber's minister of finance.23 He and the other commanders were withdrawn after the peace, and an officer of high rank was left as governor of Bengal. He died from the influence of the climate of Gour, or Lacnouti, the ancient capital, to which he had returned after it had been for some time deserted ; and his successor had scarcely taken lighter suit of his own ; and seeing that formed the Mahometan pro- another raja unprovided, he told him vince. to put on the heavy armour which 23 [" Todar Mai was of the Kayeth had remained unoccupied. This raja cast, and early leaving the Panjab, was a rival of the father of the young his native land, commenced his po- Rajput, who was so indignant at the litical career in Guzerat, A.D. 1553. use made of his armour that he tore He became a military chief and super - off that given him by the king, and intendent of revenue by a conjunction declared that he should go into the of offices common in those days, action without any armour at all. After serving in Guzerat and Bengal Akber took no notice of this disre- with reputation he returned to Delhi spect but to say that he could not in 1577. Here as Peshkar or chief allow his chiefs to be more exposed deputy to the Vazir Shah Mansur, he than himself, and that he would also assisted in the internal revenue re- go unarmed into the battle. (Akber- form with which his name and that ndmeh.) of his master, the Emperor Akber, 22 Orissa is applied here to the are associated." (Benares Mag., iii. small portion of the country so called 247. — ED.] IX. 1 INSURRECTION IN BENGAL 499 charge, when Daud renewed the war and overran Bengal, compelling the king's troops to concentrate and wait for assist- ance from Behar. A battle at length took place, and terminated in the defeat and death of Daud. Soon after, the fort of Rohtas, in Behar, which had held out till now, was compelled, by a long blockade, to surrender to a force employed for the purpose. Bengal and Behar were now re-annexed to the empire ; and the remains of the Afghan monarchy in Hindostan were thus completely extinguished. But the situation of those provinces was unfavourable to their permanent tranquillity : the hilly and woody tract on the south, the vast mountains and forests on the north, the marshes and jungles towards the sea, still afforded a safe retreat for the turbulent ; and there was no want of materials to spread disaffection. Bengal had not before been subjugated by the Moguls, and was filled with Afghan settlers, whose numbers had been greatly increased by the retreat of such of their nation as refused to enter the service of the House of Tamerlane after its conquest of Upper Hindostan. The Mogul chiefs had profited by the unsettled state of the country ; they seized on the jagirs of the Afghans for their own benefit, and accounted for the rest of the royal revenue as expended on military operations! The conquest was completed about the time of Akber's great financial reform, and the governor was required to remit revenue to the treasury ; while all jagirs were strictly inquired into, and musters of the troops for which each was held were rigorously exacted. The new conquerors were too conscious of their strength to submit to these regula- tions.24 They revolted first in Bengal, and soon afterwards in Behar ; when Akber found himself completely dispossessed of the fruits of his victory, and a formidable army of 30,000 men in the field to oppose him. After much ill success on the part of the king's troops, Raja Todar Mai was sent to recover the province. He was at first successful, partly owing to his influence with the Hindu zemindars ; but some harsh pecuniary demands on the part of the vazir at Delhi led to numerous desertions, even among the chiefs unconnected with the rebels and it was not till the end of the third year from the breaking out of the rebellion, that it was finally put an end to by Aziz, or A'zim Khan, who had succeeded Todar Mai, and seems to have bought off many chiefs, and continued their lands to many of the troops (Afghans as well as Moguls), who had heretofore enjoyed them.25 The old Afghan adherents of Daud Khan had not been idle 24 Stewart's History of Bengal. Muntakhab ut Tawarikh. 25 Stewart's History of Bengal. 500 REVOLT OF HAKIM during these dissensions among the Moguls. They assembled soon after the rebellion broke out under a chief called Kuttu, and before long made themselves masters of Orissa and of all the country up to the river Damoder, near Bardwan. Aziz having left the province after the rebellion was subdued, Raja Man Sing was sent from Cabul to conduct this new war. He entered the country held by the Afghans, and cantoned for the rains near the present site of Calcutta. A large detachment of his was afterwards defeated by the enemy, and his son, who commanded it, taken prisoner ; so that his affairs wore an unfavourable aspect ; when Kuttu luckily died (1590), and I'sa, a prudent and moderate chief, became guardian to his sons. With this chief an agreement was soon concluded by Man Sing allowing the sons of Kuttu to retain Orissa as de- pendants or subjects of the emperor. After two years, Fsa died. His successor incurred general odium, by seizing on the revenues of the great temple of Jagannath. Akber took advantage of this mistake to send Man Sing again with an army, who defeated the Afghans on the borders of Bengal, drove them to Cattak, and by concessions of jagirs, added to more rigorous measures, finally reduced them to submission. Their last struggle was in 1592 ; and thenceforth (although Osman, one of Kuttu's sons, rebelled again in A.D. 1600) the pretensions of the Afghans to the possession of the province may be considered as quite extinguished. While his officers were employed in the settlement of Bengal, Akber's own attention was drawn to a distant part of his dominions. His brother, Mirza Hakim, who had long been undisturbed in Cabul, was led, by a wish for further aggrandizement, again to invade the Pan jab. Raja Man Sing, the governor, was compelled to retire before him, and to take refuge in Lahor ; and Akber found it necessary to proceed, himself, with an army to raise the siege and deliver the pro- vince. Mirza Hakim retreated before him ; and the emperor, whose situation no longer required his allowing such attacks to pass with impunity, followed up his success, crossed the Indus, and after a feeble opposition on the part of his brother, took possession of Cabul. Mirza Hakim fled to the mountains. He afterwards made his submission, and Akber generously restored him to his government. He thenceforth, probably, remained in real subordination to his brother. After this settlement, Akber returned to Agra, leaving Raja Bhagavan Das of Jeipur governor of the Pan jab. On his way he founded the fort which still stands at the principal ferry of the Indus, and gave it the name of Attok Benaris. After the abdication of Mozaffer Shah of Guzerat, he ac- IX. 1 INSURRECTION IN GUZERAT 601 companied the army to Agra, and was kept for some time about the court. He had latterly been allowed to reside at a jagir, which had been given to him, and was no longer looked on with suspicion (from 1573 to 1581). In this case, as in many others, Akber paid dear for his magnanimity. New intrigues arose in Guzerat, and Mozaffer was invited, by Shir Khan Fuladi, one of the principal actors in the former troubles/to fly from his residence in Hindostan, and put himself at the head of his old kingdom. An insurrection ensued, which reached to such a height that the king's troops were obliged to withdraw to Patan, in the north of Guzerat, while Mozaffer Shah occupied Ahmedabad, Baroch, and almost the whole of the province. Mirza Khan 26 (the son of Bairam Khan) was sent to quell this rebellion. He defeated Mozaffer, and re- covered the continental part of Guzerat ; but Mozaffer retired among the almost independent chieftains of the peninsula, repelled the attacks of Mirza Khan, and made various at- tempts, at different periods, to recover his dominions. His efforts were all unsuccessful ; but the endeavours of the Moguls to penetrate his retreat in the peninsula were attended with as little effect ; and no result was produced for a long period, except alternate victories and heavy loss on both sides. On one occasion, indeed, in A.D. 1589, Aziz made his way to the sea-coast on the south, and fought a great battle. The victory was doubtful, but was followed by the retreat of the Moguls ; and it was not till four years after this period, and twelve after his rebellion (in A.D. 1593), that Mozaffer Shah was taken on an incursion into the settled part of the province, and cut his throat with a razor while on his way to the court at Agra. 26 [Mirza Abd ul Rahim was one of tioned in the text, and was promoted the most distinguished nobles of in consequence to the rank of Amir Muhammadan India : he was born of 5,000 with the predicted title. He at Lahor in 1556. When he came of was next honoured with the very rare age, Akber bestowed on him the title title of Vakil-i-Sultanat or lord lieu- of Mirza Khan, and he was soon after- tenant of the empire. He successfully wards appointed governor of Guzerat. held the governments of Jaunpur, When twenty-eight years of age he Multan, and Sind, and performed was made atalik or tutor of Prince great services in the wars in the Selim, and in the same year he was Deckan. His daughter was married sent to put down Mozaffer Shah's to Prince Daniyal. Under Sultan insurrection. The emperor had Jehangir he retained the same influ- ordered him not to risk a general ence in the imperial councils, and we engagement with his inferior num- find him sent with Prince Shah Jehan bers ; but an old noble told him that to Kandahar. He died at Delhi now was the time to become Kha ;i about 1626. (See Erskine's Life of Khanan or to fall in battle, and he Bdber, preface, p. \ii.) — ED.] accordingly fought the battle men- 502 AKBER'S PLANS A.D. 1586, A.H. 994 CHAPTER II FROM 1586 TO THE DEATH OF AKBER Akber interferes in the disputes of the Deckan — Akber moves to Attok on the Indus — Conquest of Cashmir, A.D. 1586, A.H. 994 — Wars with the north-eastern Afghans — Description of those tribes and of their country — Sect of the Rosheniyas — Destruction of the invading army by the Yusufzeis, January, A.D. 1586, Safar, A.H. 994 — Conquest of Sind, A.D. 1592, A.H. 1000 — Recovery of Candahar, A.D. 1594, A.H. 1003 — Com- plete settlement of Hindostan — Expedition to the Deckan, about Nov., A.D. 1595 ; about the end of Rabi ul 'Akhir, A.H. 1004 — Chand Sultana — Her defence of Ahmednagar — Peace agreed on, Rajab, A.H. 1004 ; about Feb. A.D. 1596 — War renewed and extended to the whole of the Deckan, Dec. A.D. 1596, or Jan. 1597 — Akber goes in person to the Deckan — Death of Chand Sultana — Taking of Ahmed- nagar, about July, A.D. 1600 ; Safar, A.H. 1009 — Conquest of Khandesh — Akber returns to Hindostan, spring of A.D. 1601, end of A.H. 1009 —Refractory conduct of his eldest son, Selim, about Nov., A.D. 1600; Shaban, A.H. 1009— Murder of Abul Fazl. A.D. 1602, A.H. 1011— Reconciliation of Akber with Selim, A.D. 1603, A.H. 1012 — Continued misconduct of Selim — He is placed under restraint, and soon after released — His quarrels with his own son, Khusrou — Death of Daniyal, Akber' s third son — Sickness of Akber — Intrigues regarding the succession — Unsuccessful combination to set aside Selim — Death of Akber, Oct. 13, A.D. 1605, A.H. 1014 — His character. AFTER Mozaffer had been driven into the peninsula, Akber began to take part in the disputes of the Deckan (in A.D. 1586). His first attempts failed, as will hereafter be related ; and before long he was fully occupied by the affairs of his own northern dominions. In the year 1585 his brother, Mirza Hakim, died ; and, although he had no difficulty in taking the territories held by that prince into his immediate possession, yet he heard, about the same time, that Mirza Soleiman had been driven out of Badakhshan by Abdullah, the Khan of the Uzbeks ; and it was, probably, apprehension of the further progress of that formidable neighbour which chiefly induced him to go in person to Cabul. Abdullah Khan, however, was contented with Badakhshan ; and as Akber made no attempt to recover that possession of his family, the peace remained undisturbed. The emperor was now in the neighbourhood of the northern mountains, a great portion of which was comprised within its dominions ; and he was engaged by this circumstance in wars of a new description, attended with greater difficulties than any he had yet encountered. The first was the conquest of Cashmir. That celebrated kingdom is an extensive plain, situated in the heart of the Himalaya mountains, and more than half way up their height. Placed, by its elevation, above the reach of the heat of Hindo- stan, and sheltered by the surrounding mountains from the [X. 2 CASHMIR 503 blasts of the higher regions, it enjoys a delicious climate, and exhibits, in the midst of snowy summits, a scene of continual verdure, and almost of perpetual spring. Trees belonging to different climates are scattered over its surface, while fruits of various kinds and flowers of innumerable descriptions are poured forth with spontaneous profusion over the hills and plains. The level country is watered by rills, which issue from the valleys or fall in cascades down the mountains, and collect in different places, especially in two lakes, whose varied banks and floating gardens are the great boast of the valley. This terrestrial paradise can only be approached by difficult and dangerous passes. The road, though a steep ascent on the whole, often rises and descends over rocky ridges ; sometimes winds through long and close defiles ; and sometimes runs along the face of precipices overhanging deep and rapid rivers. The higher part of the mountain, from whence the descent into Cashmir commences, is at one season further obstructed, and in some places rendered impassable, by snow. Cashmir had been ruled by a long succession of Hindu, and sometimes, perhaps, of Tartar princes, from a very remote period till the beginning of the fourteenth century, when it fell into the hands of a Mahometan adventurer, and was held by princes of the same religion till the time of Akber's invasion.1 The hopes of that enterprising monarch were excited by dis- tractions which prevailed among the reigning family ; and while at Attok, in A.D. 1586, he sent a detachment under Shah Rokh Mirza, the son of Mirza Soleiman (who had entered his service when driven out of Badakhshan), and his own brother- in-law, Raja Bhagavan Das of Jeipur, to take possession of the prize thus exposed to hazard by the contention of its owners. The obstacles already mentioned, especially the snow, retarded the progress of the army ; and although it, at last, penetrated through a pass which had not been guarded, yet its supplies had been exhausted in these unproductive and inaccessible mountains, and the remaining difficulties seemed so considerable that the two chiefs entered into a treaty with the ruling power of Cashmir, by which the sovereignty of Akber was acknowledged, but his practical interference with the province forbidden. The emperor disapproved of this engage- 1 The History of Cashmir called the early part, as in all history, is fabu- " Raja Tarangini " is remarkable, as lous, but it gradually approaches to the only specimen of that department consistency in facts and dates until of literature in the Sanscrit language. about A.D. 600, from which period the It is executed by four different chronology is perfectly accurate, hands ; the first of whom wrote in (Wilson's History of Cashmir, Trans- A.D. 1148, but quotes the works of actions of the Asiatic Society, vol. xv. earlier historians with a precision that pp. 3, 85.) gives confidence in his accuracy. The 504 THE TRIBES AT THE NORTH-EAST ment ; and next year sent another army, whose efforts were attended with more success. The dissensions which prevailed in Cashmir extended to the troops stationed to defend the pass : part came over to the Moguls ; the rest quitted their post and retired to the capital. The barrier once surmounted, Cashmir lay at the mercy of the invaders. The king submitted, was enrolled among the nobles of Delhi, and was assigned a large jagir in Behar. Akber afterwards made a journey to Cashmir to enjoy the pleasures of his new conquest. He only repeated his visit twice during the rest of his reign ; but Cashmir became the favourite summer retreat of his successors, and still maintains its celebrity as the most delicious spot in Asia, or in the world. Though Akber 's next operations were not unprovoked, like those against Cashmir, they were opposed with much greater obstinacy, and terminated with less success. They were directed against the north-eastern tribes of the Afghans, who inhabit the hilly countries round the plain of Peshawer. The plain is of great extent and prodigious fertility, combining the productive soil of India with many of the advantages of the temperate countries in the west. It is bounded on the north by the great chain of Hindu Cush ; on the west by the high range of Soleiman ; and on the south by a lower range, called the hills of Kheiber, which extends from that of Soleiman to the Indus. This tract forms about one-tenth of the proper country of the Afghans. Its inhabitants are now called Berduranis, and are distinguished from the other Afghans by some peculiarities of dialect and manners. The northern part belongs to the Yusufzeis, who are by much the most considerable of these north-eastern tribes, and who afford a good specimen of the rest. The territory includes the northern part of the plain of Peshawer, and stretches up the mountains of the snowy ridge of Hindu Cush, embracing some valleys of thirty or forty miles in length, and correspond- ing breadth, from each of which other valleys run up on both sides ; all rivalling Cashmir in climate and beauty, and all ending in narrow glens, hemmed in by high precipices or lost in woods and forests. Such a country is full of intricacy and obstruction to an invading army, but affords easy communi- cations to the natives, who know the passes from one valley to another, and who are used to make their way even when there is no path to assist them. The original population was Indian, consisting, probably, of descendants of the ancient Paropamisadse.2 It had, at a comparatively recent period, been conquered and reduced to a sort of villanage by certain 2 See p. 251. IX. 2 THE ROSHENIYA SECT 505 Afghan tribes ; and they, in their turn, were dispossessed, about a century before this period, by the Yusufzeis, a tribe from near Candahar, which had just suffered a similar expul- sion from its native seats. With such possessions, and with their numerous vassals, the Yusufzeis added the pride of wealth to the independence natural to mountaineers ; and their self-importance was increased by their democratic con- stitution. Though each of their clans had an hereditary chief, he had no authority in time of peace, except to consult the people and to make known their wishes to the other clans. Internal affairs were conducted by the inhabitants of each village ; causes were tried by a sort of jury, and meetings for one or other purpose were constantly held in the public apart- ment of the village, which served also as a place of relaxation for the inhabitants and of entertainment to guests or passing strangers. The land was equally divided ; and equality was maintained by new distributions of it from time to time. The Indian vassals were well treated, but they had no share in the government ; and the conquerors were not more distinguished by their fair complexions than the superiority apparent in their demeanour. The other tribes inhabiting the plains and the lower hills to the south had been longer settled there, and had had more intercourse with the Mahometans of India ; but some of those in the Soleimani mountains had a still more rugged country and less civilized manners than the Yusufzeis. The emperor Baber had endeavoured to bring the north-eastern tribes under his dominion, and partially succeeded with some. He failed entirely with the Yusufzeis, though he employed the means of conciliation as well as destructive inroads into the accessible parts of their country. The present quarrel originated in a fanatical spirit, which had sprung up, many years before, among this portion of the Afghans. A person named Bayazid had then assumed the character of a prophet ; had set aside the Koran, and taught that nothing existed except God, who filled all space and was the substance of all forms. The Divinity despised all worship and rejected all mortifications ; but he exacted implicit obedi- ence to his prophet, who was the most perfect manifestation of himself. The believers were authorized to seize on the lands and property of infidels, and were promised, in time, the dominion of the whole earth. Bayazid soon formed a numerous sect (which took the name of Rosheniya, or enlightened), and established his authority in the hills of Soleiman and Kheiber, with an influence over the neighbouring tribes. He was so long successful, that the government was obliged to make an 506 BIR BAL A.D. 1586, A.H. 994 exertion to put him down. His own presumption and the blind confidence of his followers led him to meet the royal troops in the plain. He was defeated with great slaughter, and died soon after of fatigue and vexation.3 His sons dug up his bones, and bore them in an ark, at the head of their column ; but they ceased to be formidable beyond their hills till about A.D. 1585, when one of the youngest, named Jelala, assumed the command, and exercised it with such vigour, that the ordinary government of Cabul was found incompetent to resist him. When Prince Hakim died,4 and Cabul came directly under Akber, the government was given to Raja Man Sing, whose talents and connexion with the emperor were supported by the forces which he could draw from his hereditary dominions. Even these advantages did not prove effectual ; and one of the professed objects of Akber's expedition to the Indus was to settle the Afghans. With this view he sent successive detachments from his camp on the east bank of the Indus ; and commenced his operations by an attack on the Yusufzeis, although they had long before quarrelled with the Rosheniyas, and renounced the tenets of the sect. The chief commanders in the force detached were Zein Khan, the emperor's foster-brother, and Raja Bir Bal, his greatest personal favourite. So great was the importance attached to this expedition that Abul Fazl relates that he himself drew lots with Bir Bal who should command one of the divisions, and was much mortified at being disappointed in this opportunity of distinguishing himself ; his brother Feizi accompanied the force.5 The open country was soon overrun and laid waste ; but on Raja Bir Bal's advancing up one of the valleys, he found himself, by degrees, involved among defiles, where there was no outlet, and was at length obliged to give up the enterprise, and retrace his steps to the plain. Zein Khan showed more perseverance : he made his way through many rugged and dangerous mountains, and even built a redoubt in a place convenient for controlling the neighbourhood ; but his troops were by this time so much exhausted by fatigue, and so much harassed by the increasing numbers and audacity of their enemies, that he was compelled to form a junction with Bir Bal ; and both combined would have been unable to pursue their operations if they had not received further reinforcements from Akber. They now resumed their plan of invasion. Bir Bal was on 3 Dr. Leyden's account of the R6- 4 [In A.D. 1585. — ED.] sheniya Sect, Asiatic Researches, vol. 5 Akbernameh. ii. p. 363. IX. 2 VICTORY OF THE AFGHANS 507 bad terms with Zein Khan, and it was contrary to the strongest remonstrances of the latter that they determined to risk their whole force in a desperate attack on the Afghans. The resolu- tion taken, they advanced into the mountains. They soon came to a strong pass, which Bir Bal succeeded in ascending ; but on reaching the top, after a day of fatigue, he was set on by the Afghans, with such effect that his men dispersed and made their way, as they best could, to the plain. Zein Khan, who had remained at the foot of the pass, was attacked at the same time, and defended himself with difficulty, during the night and part of the next day, when both chiefs were at last enabled to come to a halt, and to collect their scattered forces. Zein Khan recommended that they should endeavour to capitulate with the enemy ; but Bir Bal could not be prevailed on to accede to any of his suggestions ; and, having received information that the Afghans intended to complete the ruin of the army by a night attack, he marched off his troops without consulting Zein Khan, and endeavoured to make his way through a defile, which would have afforded him the means of retreating to the open country. The intelligence was probably given for the purpose of drawing him into an am- buscade, for he had no sooner reached the gorge at the head of the pass than he was assailed on all sides by the Afghans, who overwhelmed him with showers of stones and arrows, and, rushing down the sides of the hills, fell, sword in hand, on his astonished soldiers. All attempts to preserve order on his part were vain ; men, horses, and elephants were huddled together in their flight down the defile ; and Bir Bal himself, with several other chiefs of note, was slain in the rout and slaughter which ensued. Nor was Zein Khan more fortunate in his position on the plain : for, although during the day he kept up an orderly retreat, amidst swarms of archers, match- lockmen, and slingers ; yet, after a short respite which he was allowed in the evening, the alarm of " The Afghans ! ' was again raised, and his troops fled in disorder, during the darkness of the night, losing many men killed, and more prisoners, while he himself escaped on foot, and made his way with difficulty to Attok.6 6 Akbernameh. Muntakhab ut from the " Muntakhab ut Tawarikh." Tawarikh. Khafi Khan. Abul Fazl As a proof of the defects I have as- must have been minutely informed of cribed to him, I may mention that, the real history of this transaction ; although he gives a full and even but his anxiety to soften the disgrace eloquent description of the total of Akber's arms, and to refrain from destruction of the army, he concludes anything that may reflect on Bir Bal, by stating the loss at 500 men. was so great, that his account is con- Khafi Khan, with equal inaccuracy, fused and contradictory, and I have asserts that of 40,000 or 50,000 horse been obliged to supply his deficiencies and foot, not a single person escaped 508 DESULTORY WARFARE A.D. 1586, A.H. 995 The news of this disaster spread alarm in the emperor's camp. One of his sons, Prince Morad, under the guidance of Raja Todar Mai, was ordered out with a force to check the approach of the Afghans. After the first apprehension had subsided, the prince was recalled, and the force left under the command of Todar Mai and Raja Man Sing. Akber refused to see Zein Khan, and was long inconsolable for the death of Bir Bal. As the raja's body was never found, a report gained currency that he was still alive among the prisoners ; and it was so much encouraged by Akber, that, a long time afterwards, an impostor appeared in his name ; and as this second Bir Bal died before he reached the court, Akber again wore mourning as for his friend. Bir Bal's favour was owing to his companionable qualities, no less than to his solid merit. He was a man of very lively conversation, and many of his witty sayings are still current in India.7 The Yusufzeis made no attempt to pursue their advantages. Todar Mai and Man Sing took up and fortified positions in different parts of the country, and prevented the Yusufzeis from cultivating their portion of the plain. By these means, according to Abul Fazl, they were reduced to unqualified submission ; and, in reality, some temporary agreement or tacit understanding was brought about, so as to leave Man Sing at liberty to act against the Rosheniyas, under Jelala, in the southern and western hills. Accordingly, in the course of the same summer, he marched against them ; and, after being exposed to considerable hazard, he succeeded in gaining a partial success. The Rosheniyas, however, stood their ground, and the ascendency of the govern- ment was not restored till the next year, when a combined attack was made by Man Sing, from Cabul, and a force detached by Akber, to cross the Indus to the south of the salt range, and come in on the enemy from their rear. Jelala was at that time completely defeated ; he, however, almost immediately renewed his operations, which were kept up for many years, and were sometimes aided by contests between the government and the Yusufzeis, which produced no permanent results. During this time, it was the policy of the Moguls to prevent the cultivation of the fertile plains and valleys ; so that Jelala was often compelled, by want of supplies, to leave the strong countries he occupied, and expose himself to the risk of battles on more equal ground. He was several times obliged to fly alive. The defeat seems to have Bilandzei. taken place in the mountains of Swat, 7 Chiefly from the Muntakhab ut and the names given to the passes Tawarikh. [He was a Brahman of are Karah, or Karah-Korah, and the Bhat qr bard tribe. — ED.] IX. 2 EXPEDITION AGAINST SIND 509 to the mountains of the Cafirs, and once to the court of Abdul- lah, the Khan of the Uzbeks : still, he always returned and renewed his attacks, and in A.D. 1600 he was in sufficient strength to obtain possession of the city of Ghazni. This was the last of Jelala's exploits. He was soon driven out of the city ; and, being repulsed and wounded in an attempt which he afterwards made to recover it, he was pursued on his retreat and was overtaken and killed before he could make his way to a place of safety. The religious war was continued by his successors, during the next two reigns (of Jehangir and Shah Jehan) ; and when, at last, the enthusiasm of the Rosheniyas wore out, the free spirit of the Afghans, which had owed nothing to its success, survived its extinction : the north-eastern tribes were never more formidable than in the reign of Aurangzib ; and the Yusufzeis have resisted repeated attacks from the Mogul emperors, and afterwards from the kings of Persia and Cabul, and retain their turbulent independence undiminished to the present day.8 The nature of the war with Jelala had not, latterly, been such as to prevent Akber's employing his troops in the ad- joining countries. It was some years before the death of that leader, that he made the important acquisitions of Sind and Candahar. The province of Sind had passed from the Arghuns 9 into another family of military adventurers, and Akber took ad- vantage of some dissensions which afterwards took place among these new usurpers, to endeavour to recover that old possession of the kings of Delhi. He sent an army from Lahor, where he was himself at the time, to enter Sind from the north, and lay siege to the fort of Sehwan, the key to Lower Sind, and a place of great importance to the security of the whole province. The success of this attempt was prevented by the chief of 8 Abul Fazl's account of these wars alleged conclusion of the war does is a curious specimen of his adulation not prevent Abul Fazl's relating and his inconsistency. Immediately the various events which took place after Bir Bal's calamity (that is, in during the course of it in the remain- the first year of the war) he says, ing fifteen years that are included in. ' The highlands were soon cleared of his history. He even accounts for the rubbish of rebellion. Many were Akber's fourteen years' stay in the killed, and a large number took refuge Panjab, by "his being at one time in I'ran and Tiiran (Persia and Tar- engaged in suppressing the Tajiks tary) ; and thus the countries of (Rosheniyas), and at another in Bajaur, Swad, and Tirah, which are reducing the inhabitants of the north- rarely to be equalled in the world for ern hills." (Chalmers' MS. Tranala- their climate and fertility, and the tions of the Akberndmeh.) plenty of their fruits, were cleansed 9 See p. 420, and Appendix, Sind of these wicked wretches." Yet this 510 SEPOYS A.D. 1592, A.H. 1000 Sind, who drew near with his army, and intrenched himself in such a position that Akber's general could neither attack him nor carry on the siege while he was so near. This difficulty was surmounted, by the sagacity of the emperor himself. He sent another detachment to enter Sind by the way of Amercot ; and, by thus distracting the attention of the chief, deprived him of the advantages of his position, and, before long, reduced him to give up the province. He received very favourable terms, and was appointed by Akber, according to that monarch's practice, to a high rank among the nobles of the empire.10 It is mentioned in the " Akbernameh " that the chief of Sind employed Portuguese soldiers in this war, and had also 200 natives dressed as Europeans. These were, therefore, the first Sepoys in India. The same chief is said to have had a fort defended by an Arab garrison : the first instance in which I have observed any mention of that description of mercenaries, afterwards so much esteemed. After the treacherous seizure of Candahar by Humayun, the king of Persia made several attempts to recover possession. He had no success till the beginning of Akber's reign, when the divided state of the monarchy enabled him to effect his purpose. Similar disorders in the early part of the reign of Shah Abbas gave a corresponding advantage to Akber. The Persian chiefs fell out among themselves ; one of them fled to India ; and all parties ultimately turned their eyes to the same quarter ; so that, at length, both the town and territory fell, without a blow, into the hands of the Mogul prince. These proceedings led to no quarrel with Persia : Shah Abbas was fully employed at home, and being desirous of Akber's assistance against the Uzbeks, he soon after renewed the friendly intercourse which had long been suspended between the courts, and patiently waited his opportunity of recovering Candahar ; which did not present itself till after the death of Akber. The acquisition of Candahar placed Akber in complete possession of his hereditary kingdom beyond the Indus (the war with the north-eastern Afghans being now confined to the mountains) ; and nearly at the same time he had com- pleted the conquest of Hindostan Proper. Sind had fallen in 1592 ; the last attempt at rebellion in Cashmir was quashed about the same time ; the reduction of Bengal was completed by the submission of Orissa ; and all disturbances in Guzerat 10 [He was made a commander of ment of Tatta. (Morley's Catalogue, 5,000 and appointed to the govern- p. 74.) — ED.] IX. 2 EXPEDITION TO THE DECKAN 511 terminated by the death of Mozaffer in 1593 ; so that the whole of Hindostan to the Nerbadda was more under Akber's authority than it had been under any former king. The rana of Oudipur, indeed, continued unsubdued ; but the other Rajput chiefs were changed from jealous tributaries to active and attached adherents. The next object for Akber was to extend his dominions over the Deckan. As early as A.D. 1586 he had taken up the cause of Burhan, a brother of Murteza Nizam Shah, the fourth king of Ahmednagar, who claimed to administer the government on the ground of the mental derangement of its actual possessor. An expedition sent by Akber from Malwa to support this claim had failed, and Burhan remained for some years under Akber's protection. At a later period (A.D. 1592), after his brother's death, Burhan acquired possession of his hereditary kingdom without any aid from Akber ; but he found it divided by internal faction, and engaged in war with his neighbour the king of Bijapur. All these distractions were increased on the death of Burhan. That event happened after a short reign ; and in A.D. 1595 there were no less than four parties in the field, each supporting a separate claimant. The chief of the party that was in possession of the capital had recourse to the aid of the Moguls ; and, at his invitation, Prince Morad entered the Deckan from Guzerat, and Mirza Khan, the Khani Khanan, from Malwa, the two armies forming a junction within a short distance of Ahmednagar. But, in the meantime, the chief by whom they were called in had been obliged to leave the capital, and it was now in the hands of Chand Sultana, or Chand Bibi, one of the most distinguished women that ever appeared in India. This princess was acting as regent for her infant nephew, Bahadur Nizam Shah, and she no sooner was aware of the approach of the Moguls than she applied herself to conciliate the king of Bijapur, her rela- tion, and at the same time to reconcile the heads of the other internal parties ; that all might, for a time at least, unite to resist the power whose ambition threatened equal danger to them all. So successful was her appeal, that one of the chiefs, Nehang, an Abyssinian, immediately set out to join her, and cut his way into Ahmednagar while the Moguls were in the act of investing the place : the other two likewise laid aside their private animosities, and joined the army of Bijapur, then marching against the Moguls. These preparations increased the eagerness of Prince Morad. He pressed on the siege, and had already run two mines under the works, when they were discovered and rendered useless by the countermines of the _ . «/ besieged, Chand Bibi herself superintending the workmen, 512 CHAND BIBI A.D. 1596 A.H. 1004 and exposing herself to the same dangers as the rest. The third mine was fired before the means taken to render it in- effectual were completed : the counterminers were blown up, a wide breach was made in the wall, and such a sudden terror was struck among those who defended it, that they were on the point of deserting their posts and leaving the road open to the storming party which was advancing. But they were soon recalled by Chand Bibi, who flew to the breach in full armour, with a veil over her face, and a naked sword in her hand ; and having thus checked the first assault of the Moguls, she continued her exertions till every power within the place was called forth against them : matchlock-balls and arrows poured on them from the works ; guns were brought to bear upon the breach ; rockets, gunpowder, and other combustibles were thrown among the crowd in the ditch ; and the garrison in front opposed so steady a resistance, that, after an obstinate and bloody contest, which lasted till evening, the Moguls were obliged to draw off their troops and postpone the renewal of the assault till the next day. But the garrison and inhabitants had been raised to enthusiasm by the example of the regent ; and, as her activity and energy were not slackened during the night, the Moguls found, when the day dawned, that the breach had been built up to such a height as to render it impossible to mount it without new mines. Meanwhile the confederates drew near ; and though the Moguls were still superior in the field, they were unwilling to risk all on the chance of a battle. Chand Bibi, on the other hand, was well aware of the precarious duration of a combination like the present ; and both parties were well satisfied to come to terms ; the king of Ahmednagar surrendering to the emperor his claim on Berar, of which he had recently made a conquest.11 The Moguls had not long withdrawn, when fresh dissensions broke out in Ahmednagar. One Mohammed Khan, whom Chand Bibi had appointed peshwa,12 or prime minister, plotted against her authority, and finally applied for aid to Prince Morad. The prince was already engaged in a dispute with the Deckan princes about the boundaries of Berar ; both parties had once more recourse to hostilities, and before the 11 Chand Bibi is the favourite not till she had begun to fire away heroine of the Deckan, and is the jewels that she consented to make subject of many fabulous stories, peace. Even Khafi Khan mentions her hav- 12 The title of peshwa (i.e. leader) ing fired silver balls into the Mogul had been used under the Bahmani camp ; and the common tradition at sovereigns. It has since become Ahmednagar is, that, when her shot famous as that under which the was expended, she loaded her guns Bramin ministers of the raja of Satara successively with copper, with silver, so long governed the Maratta empire, and with gold coin, and that it was IX. 2 FALL OF AHMEDNAGAR 513 expiration of a year from the peace they again met each other in the field in greater force than before. The king of Khandesh, who acknowledged himself Akber's subject, appeared on his side on this occasion, while the king of Golconda had now joined his forces to those of Bijapur and Ahmednagar. The battle took place on the river Godaveri : though maintained with great fury for two days, its result was indecisive. The Moguls claimed the victory, but made no attempt to advance ; and their ill-success, together with the disagreement between Prince Morad and the Khani Khanan, induced Akber to recall them both. Abul Fazl (the author), who was his prime minister, and had been lately in temporary disgrace, was sent to remove the prince ; and, if necessary, to take the command of the army. His representations con- vinced Akber that his own presence was required : he therefore left the Pan jab towards the end of 1598 (after a residence of fourteen years in the countries near the Indus) ; and before the middle of 1599 he arrived on the river Nerbadda. The strong fortress of Doulatabad had been taken before he ap- peared ; several other hill forts fell about the same time ; and as soon as the royal army reached Burhanpur, on the Tapti, a force was sent forward under his son, Prince Daniyal, and the Khani Khanan, to lay siege to Ahmednagar. Chand Bibi's government was now in a more disturbed state than ever. Nehang, the Abyssinian chief, who had joined her in Ahmednagar at the beginning of the former siege, was now besieging her. He drew off on the approach of the Moguls ; but the intestine disturbances still rendered a defence hope- less ; and Chand Bibi was negotiating a peace with the Moguls, when the soldiery, instigated by her factious opponents, burst into the female apartments and put her to death. Their treason brought its own reward : in a few days the breach was practic- able ; the storm took place ; the Moguls gave no quarter to the fighting men ; and the young king, who fell into their hands, was sent prisoner to the hill fort of Gwalior. But the fall of the capital did not produce the submission of the king- dom. Another pageant king was set up, and the dynasty was not finally extinguished till the reign of Shah Jehan, in A.D. 1637. Before the siege of Ahmednagar, a disagreement had taken place between Akber and his vassal, the former king of Khan- desh, which induced the emperor to annex that country to his immediate dominions. The military operations which ensued occupied Akber for nearly a year, and it was not till some months after the storm of Ahmednagar that the reduction of the province was completed by the fall of Asirghar, when L L 514 SELIM A.D. 1600, A.H. 1009 Akber appointed Prince Daniyal viceroy of Khandesh and Berar, with the Khani Khanan for his adviser, and marched, himself, to Agra, leaving the command in the Deckan and the prosecution of the conquest of Ahmednagar to Abul Fazl. Before his departure Akber had received embassies and presents from the kings of Bijapur and Golconda, and had married his son Daniyal to the daughter of the former prince.13 Akber 's return to Hindostan was rendered necessary by the refractory conduct of his eldest son, Selim.14 The prince, who was now turned thirty, does not appear to have been deficient in natural abilities ; but his temper had been exas- perated, and his understanding impaired, by the excessive use of wine and opium.15 He had always looked on Abul Fazl as his mortal enemy ; and the temporary disgrace of that minister, and his subsequent removal to the Deckan, were concessions made by Akber to the complaints and jealousy of his son. On his own departure for the Deckan, Akber declared Selim his successor, appointed him viceroy of Ajmir, and committed to him the conduct of the war with the rana of Oudipur, sending Raja Man Sing to assist him with his arms and counsels. After much loss of time Selim set forth on this duty, and had made some progress in the fulfilment of it, when intelligence arrived of the revolt under Osman in Bengal, of which province Man Sing was the viceroy. He immediately set off for his government ; and Selim, now free from all con- trol, and seeing the emperor's whole force employed in other quarters, was tempted to seize on the provinces of Hindostan for himself. He marched to Agra ; and, as the governor of that city contrived to elude his demands for its surrender, he proceeded to Allahabad, and took possession of the surrounding countries of Oudh and Behar. He at the same time seized on the local treasure, 'amounting to thirty lacs of rupees (£300,000), and assumed the title of king. 13 The account of the operations in and only took it after nightfall. It the Deckan is from the " Akberna- does not appear how long he adhered meh," and Ferishta, especially his to this sobriety. (Price's Jehdngir, History of Ahmednagar, vol. iii. pp. 6, 7.) Drinking seems to have 14 Afterwards the emperor Jehan- been the vice of the age among the gir. Mahometan kings and great men : 15 His own account is, that in his Baber and Humayun both drank youth he used to drink at least twenty hard : the princes of Turk dynasties cups of wine a day, each cup contain- seem all to have had the same pro- ing half a sir (six ounces, i.e. nearly pensity ; and even the Sons of Persia, half a pint) ; and that if he was a so lately elevated by the sanctity of single hour without his beverage, his their family, not only drank to excess hands began to shake, and he was in private, but made their piles of unable to sit at rest. After he came cups and flagons of gold and jewels to the throne, he says, he drank only compose a great part of the splendour five cups (i.e. little more than a quart), of their court. IX. 2 MURDER OF ABtJL FAZL 515 However much Akber may have been afflicted by this conduct, he determined not to drive his son to extremities. He wrote a temperate letter, warning him of the consequences of his conduct, and assuring him of his own undiminished affection if he would in time return to the path of his duty. As these remonstrances were soon followed by Akber 's return to Agra, Selim replied in the most submissive terms, and actually marched as far as Etayah with the professed intention of waiting on his father. Whether he in reality intended his approach to be hostile, or entertained apprehensions for his own safety, he spared no efforts to raise troops, and had as- sembled such a body that Akber sent to desire him to advance slightly attended, or else to return to Allahabad. Selim chose the latter course. It is not improbable that this retreat was procured by negotiation ; for it was soon followed by a grant of Bengal and Orissa by Akber to his son, and by renewed professions of fidelity and devotion on the part of the latter. During this deceitful calm, the prince had an opportunity, which he did not let slip, of revenging his own supposed injuries, while he inflicted the severest blow on the feelings of his father. Abul Fazl had at this time been recalled from the Deckan, and was advancing with a small escort towards Gwalior, when he fell into an ambuscade laid for him by Narsing Deo, raja of O'rcha in Bundelcand, at the instigation of Prince Selim ; and although he defended himself with great gallantry, he was cut off with most of his attendants, and his head sent to the Prince.16 Akber was deeply affected by the intelligence of this event. He shed abundance of tears, and passed two days and nights without food or sleep. He immediately sent a force against Narsing Deo, with orders to seize his family, ravage his country, and exercise such severities as on other occasions he never permitted. He does not seem to have known of his son's share in the crime : so far from interrupting his intercourse with him, he sent Selima Sultana, one of his wives, who had adopted Selim after his own mother's death, to endeavour to soothe his mind and bring about an entire reconciliation. 18 Selim, in his Memoirs, written (Price's Memoirs of Jehdngir, p. 33.) after he was emperor, acknowledges One of his first acts after his accession the murder, and defends it on the was to promote the murderer, Narsing ground that Abul Fazl had persuaded Deo (who had escaped the unrelenting Akber to renounce the Koran, and to pursuit of Akber), to a high station, deny the divine mission of Mahomet, and he always continued to treat him On the same ground he justifies his with favour and confidence, own rebellion against his father. 616 SELIM AND KHUSROU A.D. 1603, A.H. 1012 This embassy was attended with the desired effect. Selim soon after repaired to court and made his submission. Akber received him with his usual kindness, and conferred on him the privilege of using the royal ornaments. Selim was soon after again despatched with a force against the rana of Oudipur ; but he protracted his march on various pretences, and showed so little disposition to involve himself in a permanent contest of that nature, that Akber, desirous to avoid a rupture at all costs, sent him leave to return to his almost independent resi- dence of Allahabad. Here he gave himself up more than ever to debauchery. He had always maintained a peculiar dislike for his eldest son, Prince Khusrou, whose own levity and violence seem to have given him reason for his displeasure. Some circumstance in their disputes at this time so affected Khusrou's mother (the sister of Raja Man Sing) that she swallowed poison, and thus added a fresh sting to the already inflamed mind of her husband. Selim's irascibility now became so great that his attendants were afraid to approach him ; and he was guilty of cruelties which had been so long disused that they excited horror among all who heard of them, and which were peculiarly repugnant to the humane nature of Akber.17 The emperor was much perplexed as to the course to pursue, and determined to try the effect of a personal interview with his son. He therefore set off for Allahabad, and had advanced one or two marches, when he heard of the alarming illness of his own mother, and returned just in time to receive her last breath. On hearing of this journey, and the cause of its suspension, Selim, perhaps animated by some sense of duty or natural affection, or perhaps conceiving that his interests would be best served by his presence at court, determined to repair to Agra, and to submit in good earnest to his father. On reaching Agra he was kindly received, but was for a short time placed under restraint ; and either to lessen the disgrace of his confinement, or to prevent his indulging in his usual excesses, he was put under the care of a physician. Before long he was restored to freedom and to favour. Still the violence of his temper does not appear to have abated ; and his jealousy of his son, Khusrou, led to such a disorderly scene at an elephant fight in Akber's presence, that he was 17 On one occasion Selim ordered wondered how the son of a man. who an offender to be flayed alive, and could not see a dead beast flayed Akber could not conceal his disgust without pain could be guilty of such when he heard of it, but said he cruelty to a human being. IX. 2 ILLNESS OF AKBER 517 in imminent danger of again incurring the public dis- pleasure of the emperor. Khusrou took up the quarrel with as much vehemence as his father, and did all he could to exasperate Akber against him. It is even probable that Khusrou had, long ere this, entertained views of supplanting his father in the succession ; and Selim, in his Memoirs, appears to have been convinced that Akber at one time had serious thoughts of such a supersession ; 18 but the real favourite with Akber, as well as with Selim himself, was Khurram,19 the third and youngest son of the latter ; and their preference of that prince was among the principal causes of the discontent of his elder brother. Akber had, some years before, lost his second son, Morad : he now received accounts of the death of his third son, Daniyal, who fell a victim to intemperance in the thirtieth year of his age. His health having already received a severe shock from his excess, he was obliged to pledge his word to his father to leave off the use of wine, and was so surrounded by people of the emperor's that he was unable to gratify his propensity, which had become irresistible. His resource was to have liquor secretly conveyed to him in the barrel of a fowling-piece ; and having thus again free access to indulgence, he soon brought his life to a close. This calamity was felt by Akber in the degree that was to be expected from the strength of his attach- ments ; and it is probable that his domestic afflictions, and the loss of his intimate friends, began to prey upon his spirits and undermine his health. He appears to have been for some time ill,20 when, in the middle of September, 1605, his complaint came on with addi- tional violence, accompanied by total loss of appetite ; and it became apparent, before long, that there were little hopes of his recovery. For the last ten days he was confined to his bed ; and although he appears to have retained his faculties to the last, he was no longer capable of taking part in business. From this time all eyes were directed to the succession, and the court became an arena for the struggles of the contending parties. Selim was the acknowledged heir, and the only remaining son of the emperor ; but his rebellion had weakened his reputation, and he was now in a sort of disgrace, removed from his troops, and from all those over whom he was accus- tomed to exercise authority. On the other hand, Raja Man Sing was maternal uncle to Khusrou, who was, moreover, 18 Price's Memoirs of Jehdngir, p. 33. ' 19 Afterwards Shah Jehan. 20 Price's Memoirs of Jehdngir, p. 70. 518 VARIOUS CLAIMANTS A.D. 1605, A.H. 1014 married to the daughter of Aziz, the Khan i A'zim, the first of Akber's generals ; and those great personages, foreseeing an increase to their own power in the succession of their young relation, took immediate measures for securing the palace which forms also the citadel of Agra, and made all dispositions for placing Khusrou on the throne. Selim was now justly alarmed for his personal safety, and forebore visiting the palace on pretence of illness. His son, Prince Khurram, though only a boy, disregarded both his father's injunctions and his own danger, and declared that he would never quit his grand- father while he continued to live. Akber was distressed by his son's absence, of which he surmised the cause. He repeatedly expressed his anxiety to see him, and again pronounced him the lawful successor to the kingdom, while he expressed his desire that Khusrou should be provided for by a grant of the province of Bengal. These declarations, together with the exertions of some of the most respectable nobles, who still adhered to Selim, had a great effect in drawing off the inferior chiefs who had attached themselves to the opposite party ; and Aziz soon perceived that he was likely to be deserted if he persevered, and took the prudent course of opening a private negotiation with Selim. Man Sing, whose influence depended on the loyalty of his followers to himself and not to the em- peror, was not exposed to the same danger ; but finding himself left alone, and having received flattering overtures from Selim, he also at length promised his support to the heir apparent, who now repaired to the palace, and was affectionately received by the dying monarch. The last moments of Akber are only recorded by his successor. He says that, at this interview, Akber desired him to bring all his omrahs into the chamber where he was lying ; " for," said he, " I cannot bear that any misunderstanding should subsist between you and those who have, for so many years, shared in my toils and been the com- panions of my glory." When they were assembled he delivered a suitable address to them ; and, after wistfully regarding them all round, he desired them to forgive any offences of which he might have been guilty towards any of them. Selim now threw himself at his feet, and burst into a passion of tears ; but Akber pointed to his favourite scymitar, and made signs to his son to bind it on in his presence. He seems afterwards to have recovered from this exhaustion : he addressed himself to Selim, and earnestly conjured him to look to the comfort of the ladies of his family, and not to forget or forsake his old friends and dependants. After this he permitted one of the chief mullahs, who was a personal friend of Selim's, to be brought to him, and in his presence he repeated the IX. 2 DEATH OF AKBER 519 Mahometan confession of faith,* and died in all the forms of a good Mussulman.21 Akber is described as a strongly built and handsome man, with an agreeable expression of countenance, and very cap- tivating manners.22 He was endowed with great personal strength and activity. In his youth he indulged in wine and good living, but early became sober and abstemious, refraining from animal food on particular days, making altogether nearly a fourth part of the year. He was always satisfied with very little sleep, and frequently spent whole nights in those philoso- phical discussions of which he was so fond. Although so constantly engaged in wars, and although he made greater improvements in civil government than any other king of India, yet, by his judicious distribution of his time, and by his talents for the despatch of business, he always enjoyed abundant leisure for study and amusement. He was fond of witnessing fights of animals, and all exercises of strength and skill ; but his greatest pleasure was in hunting, especially in cases like the destruction of tigers, or the capture of herds of wild elephants, which gave a scope to his enjoyment of adven- ture and exertion. He sometimes also underwent fatigue for the mere pleasure of the exertion, as when he rode from Ajmir to Agra (220 miles) in two successive days, and in many similar journeys on horseback, besides walks on foot of thirty or forty miles in a day. His history is filled with instances of romantic courage, and he seems to have been stimulated by a sort of instinctive love of danger as often as by any rational motive. Yet he showed no fondness for war : he was always ready to take the field and to remain there, exerting all his talents and energy, while his presence was required ; but when the fate of a war was once decided, he returned to the general govern- ment of his empire, and left it to his lieutenants to carry on * [Mr. Blochmann shows (Ayin-i forms of the Arabic characters which A. transl. i. p. 212) that the account form its chief ornament." (Bishop of Akber's return to Muhammadan- Heber's Narrative, vol. i. p. 587.) ism is very doubtful. — ED.] This immense pile served as quarters 21 Akber was buried near Agra. to a European regiment of dragoons His tomb is thus described by Bishop for a year or two after the first con- Heber. The central building " is a quest of that territory by the British, sort of solid pyramid, surrounded 22 Price's Memoirs of Jehdngir, p. externally with cloisters, galleries, 45. The following is the account and domes, diminishing gradually on given of him by the Portuguese ascending it, till it ends in a square Jesuits who went to visit him from platform of white marble surrounded Goa. He was about " fifty years old, by the most elaborate lattice-work white like a European, and of saga- of the same material, in the centre of cious intellect. He received them which is a small altar tomb, also of with singular affability," etc. (Mur- white marble, carved with a delicacy ray's Discoveries in Asia, vol. ii. p. and beauty which do full justice to 89.) the material, and to the graceful 520 AKBER'S INTERNAL POLICY the remaining military operations. These were, in some cases, very long protracted ; but his conquests, when concluded, were complete ; and no part of India, except that near the capital, can be said to have been thoroughly subdued until his time. He was not free from ambition ; but as the countries he invaded had been formerly subject to Delhi, he would have incurred more blame than praise among his contemporaries if he had forborne from attempting to recover them. AKBER'S INTERNAL POLICY Akber's internal policy, religious and civil — His general toleration and imparti- ality— Progress of his religious opinions — Feizi — His translations from the Sanscrit — He superintends translations from that and other languages — Abul Fazl — Akber's attachment to those brothers — Akber's religious and philosophical conferences — Religious system of Akber — His dis- couragement of the Mahometan peculiarities — His restrictions on the Hindu superstition — His general indulgence to Hindus — Discontents among the Mussulmans — Limited progress of his own religion — His civil government — Revenue system — Todar Mai — Subahs, or govern- ments, and their establishments, military, judicial, and police — Reform and new model of the army — Fortifications and public works — House- hold and court. BUT it is to his internal policy that Akber owes his place in that highest order of princes, whose reigns have been a blessing to mankind ; and that policy shows itself in different shapes, as it affects religion or civil government. Akber's tolerant spirit was displayed early in his reign, and appears to have been entirely independent of any doubts on the divine origin of the Mahometan faith. It led him, however, to listen, without prejudice, to the doctrines of other religions, and involved him in enmity with the bigoted members of his own ; and must thus have contributed to shake his early belief, and' to dispose him to question the infallible authority of the Koran. The political advantages of a new religion, which should take' in all classes of his subjects, could not fail, moreover, to occur to him. In the first part of his reign, he was assiduous in visiting sacred places, and in attendance on holy men : even in the twenty-first year of his reign, he spoke seriously of performing the pilgrimage to Mecca ; and it was not till the twenty-fourth year (A.D. 1579) that he made open profession of his latitudinarian opinions. It is not impossible that some even of the holy persons whom he visited may have held the free notions common with particular sects of Mahometan ascetics ; but the blame of corrupting Akber's orthodoxy is thrown by all Mussulman IX. 3 TOLERATION AND PROGRESS 521 writers on Feizi and his brother Abul Fazl. These eminent persons were the sons of a learned man named Mobarik, who was probably a native of Nagor, and who, at one time, taught a college or school of law and divinity at Agra. He was at first a Sunni, but turned Shia ; and afterwards took to reading the philosophical works of the ancients, and became a free- thinker, or, according to his enemies, an atheist. So great a persecution was raised against him on this account, that he was constrained to give up his school, and fly with his family from Agra. His sons conformed, in all respects, to the Ma- hometan religion ; though it is probable that they never were deeply imbued with attachment to the sect. Feizi was the first Mussulman that applied himself to a diligent study of Hindu literature and science.1 It does not appear whether his attention was directed to these researches by Akber, or whether he undertook them of his own accord. It was, however, by the aid and under the direction of the emperor that he conducted a systematic inquiry into every branch of the knowledge of the Bramins. Besides Sanscrit works in poetry 2 and philosophy, he made a version of the ' Bija Ganita " and ' Lilavati ': of Bhascara Acharya, the best Hindu books on algebra and arithmetic. He likewise superintended translations made from the Sanscrit by other learned men, including one, at least, of the Vedas ; the two great historical and heroic poems, the " Maha Bharata " and " Ramayana " ; and the " History of Cashmir," the only specimen of that sort of composition in Sanscrit prose.3 Akber's acquisitions of this nature were not confined to Sanscrit. He prevailed on a Christian priest, whom Abul Fazl calls Padre Farabatun, and describes as learned in science and history, to come from Goa, and undertake the education of a few youths destined to be employed in translating the produc- tions of Greek literature into Persian. Feizi himself was directed to make a correct version of the Evangelists.4 Feizi was first presented to Akber in the twelfth year of his 1 [On this see Sir H. Elliot's note more studious and less a man of the D. in Dowson's Hist, of India, vol. v. world than Abul Fazl. He shows that several Hindu books of 3 Muntakhab ut Tawarikh. [See medicine and astronomy had been Dowson's Hist, of India, vol. v. pp. translated from the Sanskrit during 537, 539. — ED.] the early centuries of the Khalifate. 4 The taste for literature and ac- Albiruni certainly knew Sanskrit. — complishments seems to have been ED.] much diffused in Akber's court : 2 He translated the " Nala and Aziz (or Khani A'zim) was a man of Damayanti," an episode of the great learning ; Mirza Khan (Khani " Maha Bharata " (see p. 170). Feizi Khanan), son of Bairam Khan, and was likewise author 'of a great deal of the second of Akber's generals, made original poetry, and of other works, the excellent Persian translation now in Persian. He seems to have been extant of Saber's Memoirs, from the 522 FEIZI AND ABtfL FAZL A.D. 1574, A.H. 983 reign, and introduced Abul Fazl to Akber six years later, in A.D. 1574. Those brothers soon became the intimate friends and in- separable companions of their sovereign. They not only were the confidants of all his new opinions in religion, and his advisers in his patronage of literature, both in foreign countries and his own, but were consulted and employed in the most important affairs of government. Feizi was sent on a special embassy to the kings of the Deckan previous to the invasion of that country ; and Abul Fazl lived to attain the highest military rank, and to hold the office of prime minister. Akber's distress at the loss of Abul Fazl has been mentioned, and the account of his behaviour at the death of Feizi is the more to be relied on as it is given by an enemy. It was midnight when the news was brought to him that Feizi was dying ; on which he hastened to his apartment, but found him already nearly insensible : he raised his head, and called out to him, with a familiar term of endearment, " Shekhji ! I have brought All the physician to you : why do not you speak ? ' Finding that he received no answer, he threw his turban on the ground and burst into the strongest expressions of sorrow. When he had recovered his composure, he went to Abul Fazl, who had with- drawn from the scene of death, and remained for some time endeavouring to console him, before he returned to his palace.3 Along with Feizi and Abul Fazl, there were many other Turkish. Among the distinguished religion. The letter shows Feizi's men of this time, all historians men- zeal for his friends in a strong point tion Tansen, a celebrated composer, of view. It expatiates on the ser- whose music is still much admired. vices of the bearer, and his ill luck Even Zein Khan (so often mentioned in their not having attracted notice ; as an able and active general) is said speaks of him in the warmest terms to have played well on several iristru- as an intimate acquaintance of ments. Akber encouraged schools, thirty-seven years' standing, a true at which Hindu as well as Mahometan and faithful friend, and a person of learning was taught, and " every one many virtues and accomplishments; was educated according to his circum- and ends by strongly recommending stances and particular views in life." him to the emperor. Though Abdul (Akberndmeh.) Kadir had quarrelled with Feizi and 5 Muntakhab ut Tawarikh. . The Abul Fazl on points of religion, this same author, whose name was Abdul dispute does not seem to have led to Kadir, relates that Feizi continued to his disgrace with Akber ; for he blaspheme in his dying moments, and mentions that he was employed by that at last he barked like a dog, that monarch to make a catalogue of while his face became disfigured, and Feizi's library after his death, and his lips black, as if he already bore that it consisted of 4,600 books, care- the impress of the damnation that fully corrected and well bound, on awaited him. Abdul Kadir inserts poetry and literature, moral and in his book a letter in his favour from physical science, and theology. Feizi to Akber, and defends himself [These passages from Abdul Kadir from the charge of ingratitude in are translated in Sir H. Elliot's His- defaming his benefactor after his torians, vol. i. pp. 255 — 258. Dow- death, by saying that it was a para- son's Hist, of India, vol. v. pp. mount duty he owed to God and to 544 — 549, — ED.] IX. 3 RELIGION 523 learned men of all religions about the court ; and it was the delight of Akber to assemble them, and sit for whole nights assisting at their philosophical discussions. His regular meet- ings were on Friday ; but he often sent for single Bramins or Mahometan Sufis on other occasions, and entered into long inquiries regarding the tenets of their different schools.6 Some specimens of the discussions at those meetings (probably imaginary ones) are given in the " Dabistan," a learned Persian work on the various religions of Asia. The fullest is a dialogue between a Bramin, a Mussulman, a worshipper of fire, a Jew, a Christian, and a philosopher.7 The representative of each religion brings forth his arguments ; which are successively condemned, some on account of the vicious character of their founders, and all for the absurdity of their doctrines, and the want of proof of their alleged miracles. The philosopher winds up the discourse by recommending a system which shall have no ground but reason and virtue. An account of a real debate of this kind is given in the " Akber- nameh." It was carried on before an assembly of the learned of all religions, between Padre Redif,* a Christian priest, and a body of Mahometan mullahs : a decided advantage, both in temper and argument, is given to the Christian. It was con- cluded by Akber's reproving the mullahs for their violence, and expressing his own opinion that God could only be ade- quately worshipped by following reason, and not yielding implicit faith to any alleged revelation.8 6 Akbernameh. Muntakhab ut Ta- jected by them, contrary to the wish warikh. of Akber. (Murray's Asiatic Dis- 7 Translated by Colonel Kennedy, coveries, vol. ii. p. 91.) The proba- Transactions of the Bombay Literary bility is, that Akber may have taken Society, vol. ii. p. 217, etc. this way of amusing himself with the * [Mr. Blochmann has shown that extravagance of both parties. It this should be " Padre Radalf" i.e. does not appear that he had any the Portuguese missionary Rodolpho design to turn the Christians at least Aquaviva. — ED.] into derision. The missionaries, pro- 8 A circumstance is related regard- voked at the disappointment of their ing this meeting, of which the Chris- sanguine hopes of converting the tians and Mahometans give different emperor, appear at length to have accounts ; and, what is rather un- suspected that he had no object in usual in controversies, each tells the encouraging them, except to gratify story in the way least favourable to his taste with their pictures and his own faith. The disputants having images, and to swell the pomp of his split on the divinity of their respec- court by their attendance (Murray's tive scriptures, the Christian, accord- Asiatic Discoveries, vol. ii. p. 91) ; ing to Abul Fazl, offered to walk into but, besides his intense curiosity a flaming furnace, bearing the Bible, about the religious opinions of all if the Mahometan would show a sects, both Abul Fazl and Abdul similar confidence in the protection Kadir represent him as entertaining of the Koran. To this, he says, the a real respect for Christianity. The Mussulmans only answered by re- latter author says that he made his preaches. The missionaries, on the son Morad be instructed in the Gos- other hand, say the proposal came pel, and that those lessons were not from the Mussulmans, and was re- begun according to the usual form, 524 AKBER'S VIEWS The religion of Akber himself may be inferred from what has been said.9 It seems to have been pure deism ; in addition to which some ceremonies were permitted in consideration of human infirmity. It maintained that we ought to reverence God according to the knowledge of him derived from our own reason, by which his unity and benevolence are sufficiently established ; that we ought to serve him, and seek for our future happiness by subduing our bad passions, and practising such virtues as are beneficial to mankind ; but that we should not adopt a creed, or practise a ritual, on the authority of any MAN, as all were liable to vice and error like ourselves. If it were absolutely necessary for men to have some visible object of adoration, by means of which they might raise their soul to the Divinity, Akber recommended that the sun, the planets, or fire should be the symbols. He had no priests, no public worship, and no restrictions about food, except a recommenda- tion of abstinence, as tending to exalt the mind. His only observances were salutations to the sun, prayers at midnight and daybreak, and meditations at noon on the sun. He professed to sanction this sort of devotion, from regard to the prejudices of the people, and not from his own belief in their efficacy. It is, indeed, related by Abul Fazl, that, being once entreated to pray for rain, he refused, observing that God knew our wants and wishes better than we did ourselves, and did not require to be reminded, to exert his power for our benefit. But as Akber practised all his ceremonies as well as permitted them, it may be doubted whether they had not gained some hold on his imagination. He seems to have been by nature devout, and, with all his scepticism, to have inclined even to superstitions that promised him a closer connexion with the Deity than was afforded by the religion which his reason approved.10 To this feeling we may ascribe, among other instances, the awe and veneration with which he adored the images of Jesus Christ and the Virgin, when they were shown to him by the missionaries.11 Notwithstanding the adulation of his courtiers, and some expressions in the formulae of his own religion, Akber never seems to have entertained the least intention of laying claims to supernatural illumination. His fundamental doctrine was, " In the name of God," but " In the wdrikh. See also a very full note in name of Jesus Christ." [Sir H. Mr. Blochmann's translation of the Elliot's Historians, vol. i. p. 248. — A'yin-i-Akberi, i.pp. 167 — 212. — ED.] ED.] 10 [He used to associate with Hindu 9 [There is an interesting paper on yogis on the most familiar footing, this subject in Professor Wilson's and was initiated into all their know- Collected Works, vol. ii., chiefly based ledge and practices. — ED.] on Abdul Kadir's Muntakhab ut TQ,- 1] Murray, vol. ii. p. 89, IX. 3 RELATIONS WITH MAHOMETANISM 525 that there were no prophets ; his appeal on all occasions was to human reason : and his right to interfere at all with religion was grounded on his duty as civil magistrate.12 He took the precaution, on promulgating his innovations, to obtain the legal opinions of the principal Mahometan lawyers, that the king was the head of the church, and had a right to govern it according to his own judgment,13 and to decide all disputes among its members ; and in his new confession of faith it was declared that " There was no God but God, and that Akber was his calif" In the propagation of his opinions, Akber confined himself to persuasion, and made little progress except among the people about his court and a few learned men ; but his mea- sures were much stronger in abrogating the obligations of the Mussulman religion, which, till now, had been enforced by law. Prayers, fasts, alms, pilgrimages, and public worship were left optional : the prohibition of unclean animals, that of the moderate use of wine, and that of gaming with dice, were taken off ; and circumcision was not permitted until the age of twelve, when the person to undergo it could judge of the propriety of the rite.14 Some of the other measures adopted seemed to go beyond indifference, and to show a wish to discountenance the Ma- hometan religion. The era of the Hijra and the Arabian months were changed for a solar year, dating from the vernal equinox nearest the king's accession, and divided into months named after those of ancient Persia. The study of the Arabic language was discouraged : Arabian names (as Mohammed, All, etc.), were disused.15 The ordinary salutation of Salam aleikum ! (Peace be unto you !) was changed into Allahu Akbaru ! (God is most great !) ; to which the answer was, Jalla Jalaluhu ! (May his brightness shine forth !).16 Even wearing the beard, a practice enjoined by the Koran, was so offensive to Akber, that he would scarcely admit a person to his presence who conformed to it. This last prohibition gave peculiar disgust to the Mahometans, as did a regulation intro- ducing on certain occasions the Persian custom of prostration (or kissing the ground, as it was called) before the king ; a 12 Some of his practices, as breath- 15 [" The study of the language and ing on his disciples, etc., which have literature of the Arabs was discounte- been mentioned as implying preten- nanced, and that of its law and theo- sions to miraculous powers, are the logy prohibited. A provision was common forms used by spiritual hi- subsequently made in favour of structors throughout India. arithmetic, astronomy, natural his- 3 Muntakhab ut Tawarikh. tory, and philosophy." (Wilson's 14 Colonel Kennedy adds that the Essays.) — ED.] marriage of more than one wife was 16 These phrases include the em- forbidden, peror's name, Jelal ud din Akber. 526 HUMANE MEASURES mark of respect regarded by the Mahometans as exclusively appropriated to the Deity. As the Hindus had not been supported by the government, Akber had less occasion to interfere with them ; and, indeed, from the tolerant and inoffensive character of their religion, he seems to have had little inclination. He however forbade trials by ordeal, and marriages before the age of puberty, and the slaughter of animals for sacrifice. He also permitted widows to marry a second time, contrary to the Hindu law : l7 above all, he positively prohibited the burning of Hindu widows against their will, and took effectual precautions to ascertain that their resolution was free and uninfluenced. On one occasion, hearing that the raja of Jodpur was about to force his son's widow to the pile, he mounted his horse and rode post to the spot to prevent the intended sacrifice.18 His most important measures connected with the Hindus were of a purely favourable nature, but had been adopted many years before his innovations in religion. His employment of them equally with Mahometans began with his assumption of the government. In the seventh year of his reign he abolished the jizya or capitation tax on infidels ; 19 an odious impost, which served to keep up animosity between people of the pre- dominant faith and those under them. About the same time he abolished all taxes on pilgrims ; observing that, " although the tax fell on a vain superstition, yet, as all modes of worship were designed for one great Being, it was wrong to throw an obstacle in the way of the devout, and to cut them off from their mode of intercourse with their Maker." 20 Another humane edict, issued still earlier (A.D. 1561), 17 Colonel Kennedy, Bombay rated at 40, the second at 20, the third Transactions, vol. ii. p. 261. at 10 tankas per head ; and the 18 Akbernameh. Brahmans were allowed to pay the 19 [We have had this tax already lowest rate. It was enforced with alluded to on p. 302. There is an great severity under the Lodi kings, interesting dialogue in Ferishta Aurangzib reimposed it in the 22nd (Briggs's translation, vol. i. p. 349), year of his reign, and directed that its between Ala ud Din and his principal levy should be attended with every Cazi, respecting the proper amount circumstance of contumely which his of this tribute. The Cazi decides, on ingenuity could devise ; thus every the authority of the Imam Hanifa, one was to bring it in person to the that " the jizya, or as heavy a tribute treasury officer, and to present it as they can bear, may be imposed, standing, etc. It waa regularly levied instead of death, on infidels, and it until the reign of Farokhsir, when is commanded that the jizya and opposition to it forced the minister khiraj (or land-tax) be exacted to the to desist, and it was formally abo- uttermost farthing, in order that the lished by the Seiads under Rafi ud punishment may approximate as Dirjat. See Sir H. Elliot's SuppL nearly as possible to death." Up to Gloss., p. 442. — ED.] the time of Finiz Shah, Brahmans 20 Chalmers' MS. translation of the were exempted from this tax ; in his " Akbernameh." time the highest class of Hindus were IX. 3 RELIGIOUS INNOVATIONS 527 though not limited to any one class, was, in practice, mainly beneficial to the Hindus : it was a prohibition against making slaves of persons taken in war. It appears that in the previous disturbances this abuse had been carried to such a height that not only was it practised towards the wives and children of garrisons who stood a storm, but even peaceable inhabitants of a hostile country were seized and sold for slaves. All this was positively prohibited. Although Akber's religious innovations were not all intro- duced at once, and although some of those found to be par- ticularly obnoxious to censure were cancelled or confined to the palace, yet they did not fail to excite great discontent among the stricter Mussulmans, and especially among the mullahs, whose disgust was increased by some changes affecting lands granted for religious purposes, which took place in the course of the general revenue reform. The complaints of these classes are zealously set forth by an author already often referred to,21 who accuses Akber of systematic depression of the Mussulman religion, and even of persecution of such persons as distinguished themselves by adhering to it. It is not im- probable that he showed some prejudice against those who were active in opposing him ; and he certainly restricted his patronage to the more compliant ; but in all instances of harsh language and conduct to individuals, brought forward by this writer, Akber seems to have been justified by particular acts of disrespect or factious conduct. The cases in question are not confined to mullahs. One of his principal courtiers was ordered out of the royal apartment for attacking his proceed- ings, and asking what he imagined orthodox princes of other countries would say of them ? and another who applied the epithet " hellish " to the king's advisers, was told that such language deserved to be answered by a blow. The most con- siderable of these malcontents was Aziz (the Khan i A'zim), who was Akber's foster-brother, and one of his best generals. This nobleman having been long absent in the government of Guzerat, his mother prevailed on Akber to invite him to come to court. Aziz excused himself ; and it appeared that his real objection was to shaving his beard and performing the pros- tration. Akber, on this, wrote him a good-humoured remon- strance ; but Aziz persevering, he sent him a positive order to come to the capital. Aziz, on this, threw up his government ; and after writing an insolent and reproachful letter to Akber, in which he asked him if he had received a book 22 from heaven, 1 Abdul Kadir, the writer of the are called books, by way of excellence, " Muntakhab ut Tawarikh." and their followers, " People of the 22 The Koran, the Old and New Book." Testament, and the Psalms of David 528 EFFECTS OF HIS POLICY or if he could work miracles like Mahomet, that he presumed to introduce a new religion, warned him that he was on his way to eternal perdition, and concluded with a prayer to God to bring him back into the path of salvation. After this explosion of zeal he embarked for Mecca without leave or notice. In a short time, however, he found his situation irksome in that country, and returned to India, where he made his submission, and was restored at once to his former place in the emperor's favour and confidence. But although this sort of opposition was surmounted, Akber's religion was too spiritual and abstracted to be success- ful with the bulk of mankind. It seems never to have gone beyond a few philosophers and some interested priests and courtiers ; and, on Akber's death, it expired of itself, and the Mussulman forms were quickly and almost silently restored by Jehangir. The solar year was retained for some time longer, on account of its intrinsic advantages. A liberal spirit of inquiry, however, survived the system to which it owed its rise ; and if extrinsic causes had not interrupted its progress, it might have ripened into some great reform of the existing superstitions. Akber cannot claim the merit of originality for his doctrines. The learned Hindus had always maintained the real unity of God, and had respected, without believing, the mythological part of their creed. The Cabir Pan this, a Hindu sect which sprang up nearly a century before Akber, had come still, nearer to his views ; and from them he appears to have borrowed some of the arbitrary parts of his religious rules : still, he excelled all his predecessors in his conception of the Divine nature ; and the general freedom which he allowed to private judgment was a much more generous effort in a powerful monarch than in a recluse reformer, himself likely to be an object of persecution.23 Akber's revenue system,* though so celebrated for the benefits it conferred on India, presented no new invention. It only carried the previous system into effect with greater precision and correctness ; it was, in fact, only a continuation of a plan commenced by Shir Shah, whose short reign did not admit of his extending it to all parts of his kingdom. 23 In comparing Akber's attempt generation, and that of another who to found a system of pure deism with follows the crowd even in its errors similar experiments by modern go- and extravagances, vernments, we must remember the * [For a general view of the reve- incurable defects of all the religions nue at different periods see Thomas, with which he was acquainted, and Chronicles of the Pathdn Kings of must distinguish between the merit Delhi, and Revenue resources of the of a man who takes the lead of his Mughal Empire (1871). — ED.] IX. 3 LAND VALUES 529 The objects of it were — 1. To obtain a correct measurement of the land. 2. To ascertain the amount of the produce of each bigah 24 of land, and to fix the proportion of that amount that each ought to pay to the government. 3. To settle an equivalent, for the proportion so fixed, in money. 1. For the first purpose Akber established a uniform standard to supersede the various measures formerly employed even by public officers. He also improved the instruments of mensuration, and he then deputed persons to make a complete measurement of all the lands capable of cultivation within the empire. 2. The assessment was not so simple as the measurement. The land was divided into three classes, according to its fer- tility ; the amount of each sort of produce that a bigah of each class would yield was ascertained : the average of the three was assumed as the produce of a bigah, and one third of that produce formed the government demand.25 But this assessment seems to have been only designed to fix a maximum ; for every cultivator who thought the amount claimed too high might insist on an actual measurement and division of the crop. As lands of equal fertility might be differently circumstanced in other respects, the following classification was formed for modifying that first mentioned : — 1. Land which never re- quired a fallow paid the full demand every harvest. 2. Land which required fallows only paid when under cultivation. 3. Land which had suffered from inundation, etc., or which had been three years out of cultivation, and required some expense to reclaim it, paid only two-fifths for the first year, but went on increasing till the fifth year, when it paid the full demand. 4. Land which had been more than five years out of cultivation enjoyed still more favourable terms for the first four years. It is not explained in the " A'yini Akberi " how the com- parative fertility of fields was ascertained. It is probable that the three classes were formed for each village, in consultation with the inhabitants, and the process would be greatly facilitated 24 An Indian land measure, con- divided by 3 gives the king's demand siderably more than half an acre. on each bigah — 4 mans 12£ s6rs. 25 Thus, assuming the produce of a If the produce of a bigah of cotton bigah of wheat, in mans (a measure of be assumed — something less than forty pounds) — mans. sers. mans. s6rs. Class 1. will yield . .10 Class 1. would yield . .18 Class 2. — . . 7 20 Class 2. — . . 12 Class 3. . . 5 Class 3. — . . 8 35 Aggregate . . 22 20 Aggregate . 38 35 Average of the three which, divided by 3, gives the average classes 7 20 — 12 mans 384 s6rs ; and that again King's demand (one- third of the average . 2 20 M M 530 REVENUE REFORM by another classification made by the villagers for their own use, which seems to have subsisted from time immemorial. By that distribution, all the land of every village is divided into a great many classes, according to its qualities ; as black mould, red mould, gravelly, sandy, black mould mixed with stones, etc. Other circumstances are also considered, such as command of water, vicinity to the village, etc. ; and great pains are taken so to apportion the different descriptions among the cultivators as to give equal advantages to all. 3. The quantity of produce due to the government being settled, it was next to be commuted for a money payment. For this purpose, statements of prices current for the nineteen years preceding the survey were called for from every town and village ; and the produce was turned into money according to the average of the rates shown in those statements. The commutation was occasionally reconsidered, with reference to the actual market prices ; and every husbandman was allowed to pay in kind if he thought the money rate was fixed too high. All these settlements were at first made annuallv ; but V ' their continual recurrence being found to be vexatious, the settlement was afterwards made for ten years, on an average of the payments of the preceding ten. The prolongation of the term mitigated another evil inherent in the system ; for as the assessment varied with the sort of cultivation, it had all the effect of a tithe in indisposing the husbandman to cultivate a richer description of produce, which, though it might yield a greater profit, would have a higher tax to pay at the next settlement. The above measurements and classifications were all care- fully recorded ; the distribution of land, and increase or diminution of revenue, were all yearly entered into the village registers agreeably to them ; and they still continue in use, even in parts of India which had not been conquered in Akber's time, and where their own merits have since introduced them. At the same time when Akber made these improvements respecting the land tax, he abolished a vast number of vexa- tious taxes and fees to officers. He also made a new revenue division of the country into portions, each yielding a cror (i.e. 10,000,000) of dams, equal to 250,000 rupees, or £25,000 ; the collector of each of which was called the crori.26 This arrangement did not last, and the ancient Hindu division is again universally established. The result of these measures was to reduce the amount of the public demand considerably, but to diminish the defalcation in realizing it ; so that the profit to the state remained nearly 26 [On this, see Sir H. Elliot's SuppL Glossary, p. 198.— ED.] IX. 3 RAJA TODAR MAL 531 the same, while the pressure on individuals was much lessened. Abul Fazl even asserts that the assessment was lighter than that of Shir Shah, although he professed to take only one- fourth of the produce, while Akber took one- third. Akber's instructions to his revenue officers have come down to us, and show his anxiety for the liberal administration of his system, and for the ease and comfort of his subjects. Some particulars of his mode of management also appear in those instructions. There is no farming of any branch of the revenue, and the collectors are enjoined, in their agreements and collec- tions, to deal directly with individual cultivators, and not to depend implicitly on the headman and accountant of the village.27 On the whole, this great reform, much as it promoted the happiness of the existing generation, contained no principle of progressive improvement, and held out no hopes to the rural population by opening paths by which it might spread into other occupations, or rise by individual exertions within its own. No mode of administration, indeed, could effect these objects as long as the subdivision of land by inheritance checked all extensive improvement in husbandry, at the same time that it attached to the soil those members of each family who might have betaken themselves to commerce, or other pursuits, such as would have increased the value of raw produce, and raised the price of agricultural labour, by diminishing the competition for that species of employment. The author of the reform was Raja Todar Mai, by whose name it is still called everywhere. The military services of this minister have already been mentioned. Abul Fazl describes him as entirely devoid of avarice and quite sincere, but of a malicious and vindictive temper, and so observant of the fasts and other superstitions of the Hindu religion as to draw down on him reproof even from Akber.28 Though we have not a particular explanation of Akber's system in other departments, as we have in that of revenue, a general notion of it may be made out from his instructions to his officers.29 The empire was divided into fifteen subahs or provinces.30 27 Gladwin's A'yini Akberi, vol. i. [The original fifteen were Allahabad, pp. 303 — 312. Agra, Oudh, Ajmir, Guzerat, Behar, 8 Chalmers' MS. translation of the Bengal, Delhi, Cabul, Lahor, Multan, " Akbernameh." Malwa, Berar, Khandesh, Ahmed- 29 Gladwin's A'yini Akberi, vol. i. nagar. The three additional were pp. 29 — 303. Bidar, Haiderabad, and Bijapur. — 30 Twelve of these were in Hindo- ED.] The title of sipah salar was stan and three in the Deckan : these changed after Akber's time to subah- last were increased, after the conquest dar, and an additional officer was of Bijapur and Golconda, to six. introduced under the title of diwan, 532 ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE The chief officer in each was the viceroy (sipah salar), who had the complete control, civil and military, subject to the instruc- tions of the king. Under him were the revenue functionaries above mentioned, and also the military commanders of districts (foujdars), whose authority extended over the local soldiery or militia, and over all military establishments and lands assigned to military purposes, as well as over the regular troops within their juris- diction ; and whose duty it was to suppress all disorders that required force within the same limits. Justice was administered by a court composed of an officer named mir i adl (lord justice) and a cazi. The latter conducted the trial and stated the law ; the other passed judgment, and seems to have been the superior authority ; the distinction probably arising from the modification introduced by the will of the prince and the customs of the country into the strict Mahometan law, of which the cazi was the organ. The police of considerable towns was under an officer called the cotwal ; in smaller places it was under the revenue officer ; and in villages, of course, under the internal authorities.31 The tone of instructions to all these functionaries is just and benevolent, though by no means exempt from the vagueness and puerility that is natural to Asiatic writings of this sort. Those to the cotwal keep up the prying and meddling character of the police under a despotism ; they prohibit forestalling and regrating, etc. ; and in the midst of some very sensible directions, there is an order that any one who drinks out of the cup of the common executioner shall lose his hand ; a law worthy of Menu, and the more surprising as the spirit of all the rules for administering justice is liberal and humane. A letter of instructions to the governor of Guzerat, preserved in a separate history of that province, restricts his punishments to putting in irons, whipping, and death ; enjoining him to be sparing in capital punishments, and, unless in cases of dangerous sedition, to inflict none until he has sent the proceedings to court and received the emperor's confirmation. Capital for the purpose of superintending the vildyat, and iktd\ but the latter was finances of the province. He was generally applied when the land was subordinate to the subahdar, but was assigned for the support of the no- appointed by the king. [" Each bility or their contingents." (Sir H. subah was divided into a certain Elliot's Glossary, p. 185.) The title number of sircars, and each sircar of subahdar seems to have been rarely into perganahs or mahdls, and the conferred — the more usual title is perganahs again were aggregated that of nazim. — ED.] into ddsturs or districts. The words 31 [" In all legal causes between used before Akber's time to represent Hindus, a Brahman was to judge." tracts of country larger than a per- (Wilson's Essays, vol. ii. p. 396. — ED.] ganah, were shakk, khitta, Ursa, diydr, IX. 3 THE ARMY 533 punishment is not to be accompanied with mutilation or other cruelty.32 Amidst the reforms of other departments, Akber did not forget his army. If it had cost a long and dangerous struggle to bring that body to submit to orders, it scarcely required a less exertion, at a later period, to introduce economy and efficiency into the management of it. It had been usual to grant lands and assignments on the revenue, and leave the holder to realize them without check ; while musters were irregular and deceptive, being often made up by servants and camp followers mounted for the day on borrowed horses. Akber put a stop to the first of these abuses, by paying the troops in cash from the treasury whenever it was practicable ; and establishing checks on jagirs, where such existed. The other was cured by rendering musters necessary before pay, by describing every man's features and person on the roll, and branding every horse with the king's mark that ever had been numbered in his service. Camels, oxen, carts, and all things necessary for the movement of troops were also mustered and paid at fixed rates. But even in its highest state of perfection the army was not very well organized. It was not divided into bodies, each of a certain number, and with a fixed proportion of officers : the system was for the king to name officers as he thought necessary, who were called mansabdars, and who were divided into classes, of commanders of 10,000, commanders of 5,000, etc., down to commanders of 10. These numbers, in all but the lowest classes, were merely nominal, and were adopted to fix the rank and pay of the holders. Each entertained whatever number he was especially authorised to keep (some- times not a tenth of his nominal command), and that number was mustered, and paid from the treasury. Their united quotas made up the army ; and when a force went on service, the king appointed the commander and some of the chief officers, below whom there was, probably, no chain of sub- ordination, except what arose from each man's authority over his own quota. None but the king's sons held a rank above the command of 5,000 ; and of the latter class there were only thirty persons, including princes of the blood and Rajput rajas. The whole number, down to commanders of 200, was not 450." 2 Bird's History of Ouzerdt, p. 391. discipline, and of instruction in tac- ! These numbers are from the list tics, as well as by the character of the in the A'yini Akberi ; it is uncertain horsemen, who were a sort of gentle- to which period of the reign it refers. men, and more intelligent than or- The extremely small number of offi- dinary troopers in a regular army, cers is explained by the absence^of 534 THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT Each mansabdar was required to keep half as many infantry as horsemen ; and of the infantry, a fourth were required to be matchlockmen : the rest might be archers. Besides these troops under mansabdars, there was a con- siderable body of the best description of horsemen, who took service individually, and were called ahdis (i.e. single men, or individuals). Their pay depended on their merits ; it was always much higher than that of a common horseman. These last, if from beyond the Indus, received 25 rupees a month ; and if Indian, 20. The matchlockmen received 6 rupees at most, and the archers as low as 2J. The mansabdars were very liberally paid,34 but no part of their emoluments or commands was hereditary. On a chief's death, the king conferred some rank — generally a moderate one at first — on his son, and added a pension if the father's merits entitled him to it. We have no means of guessing the number of the troops. In later times, Aurangzib was conjectured to have had 200,000 effective cavalry,35 besides artillery and undisciplined infantry. It is not likely that Akber had as many. Abul Fazl says the local militia of the provinces amounted to 4,400,000 ; but this is probably an exaggerated account of those bound by their tenure to give a limited service in certain cases : probably few could be called on for more than a day or two to beat the woods for a hunting party ; and many, no doubt, belonged to hill rajas and tribes who never served at all. Beside the fort of Attok, already mentioned, many military works were erected by Akber. The walls and citadels of Agra and Allahabad much surpass the rest : they are lofty curtains and towers of cut stone, with deep ditches, and ornamented, in the Indian way, with turrets, domes, and battlements ; each of the gateways being a stately edifice that would make a suitable entrance to a royal palace. He also built and forti- fied the town of Fattehpur Sikri, which was his principal residence, and which, though now deserted, is one of the most splendid specimens that remain of the former grandeur of India.36 34 The sums in the tables in the flight of steps which ascends to the A 'yini A kberi cannot relate to personal portal tower, the extent and rich allowances alone ; but see Bernier, carving of the palace ; above all, the vol. i. p. 289. He mentions that his mosque, with the majestic propor- patron, Danishmand Khan, had the tions and beautiful architecture of rank of 5,000, with the real command the quadrangle and cloisters, of which of 500 horse, and had near 5,000 it forms one side. (Vol. i. p. 596.) crowns of pay per mensem. The same judicious observer gives an 36 Bernier. account of the buildings within Agra. 36 Bishop Heber describes its com- The principal are, " a beautiful manding situation on a hill, the noble mosque of white marble, carved with IX. 3 AKBER'S CAMP 535 The same methodical system was carried through all branches of Akber's service. The " Ayini Akberi " (Regula- tions of Akber), by Abul Fazl, from which the above account of the civil and military arrangements is mostly taken, contains a minute description of the establishment and regulations of every department, from the Mint and the Treasury down to the fruit, perfumery, and flower offices, the kitchen, and the kennel. The whole presents an astonishing picture of magnifi- cence and good order ; where unwieldy numbers are managed without disturbance, and economy is attended to in the midst of profusion. The extent of these establishments appears from the work just mentioned, and the contemporary historians ; 37 but the effect can be best judged of by the descriptions of the Europeans, who saw them in Akber's own time, or under the reign of his immediate successor, Jehangir. His camp equipage consisted of tents and portable houses, in an enclosure formed by a high wall of canvas screens, and containing great halls for public receptions, apartments for feasting, galleries for exercise, and chambers for retirement ; all framed of the most costly materials, and adapted to the most luxurious enjoyment. The enclosure was 1,530 yards square. The tents and wall were of various colours and patterns within, but all red on the outside, and crowned with gilded globes and pinnacles, forming a sort of castle in the midst of the camp. The camp itself showed like a beautiful city of tents, of many colours, disposed in streets without the least disorder, covering a space of about five miles across, and affording a glorious spectacle when seen at once from a height.38 The greatest displays of Jiis grandeur were at the annual feasts of the vernal equinox, and the king's birthday. They lasted for several days, during which there was a general fair and many processions and other pompous shows. The king's usual place was in a rich tent, in the midst of awnings to keep off the sun. At least two acres were thus spread with silk and exquisite simplicity and elegance " ; the tomb of Humayun at Delhi, a and the palace, built mostly of the great and solid edifice erected on a same material, and containing some terrace raised above the surrounding noble rooms. The great hall is " a country, and surmounted by a vast splendid edifice, supported by pillars dome of white marble, and arches of white marble, more 37 Akber had never less than 5,000 nobly simple than that of Delhi. elephants and 12,000 stable horses, The ornaments, carving, and mosaic besides vast hunting and hawking of the smaller apartments are equal establishments, etc., etc. (Ferishta, or superior to anything which is de- vol. ii. p. 281.) scribed as found in the Alhambra." 38 Sir Thomas Roe, in Churchill's (Vol. i. p. 587.) Among Akber's Voyages. Terry's Voyage, p. 398. principal works must be mentioned 536 SPLENDOUR WITH SIMPLICITY gold carpets and hangings, as rich as velvet, embroidered with gold, pearl, and precious stones, could make them.39 The nobility had similar pavilions, where they received visits from each other, and sometimes from the king ; dresses, jewels, horses, and elephants were bestowed on the nobility ; the king was weighed in golden scales against silver, gold, perfumes, and other substances in succession, which were distributed among the spectators. Almonds and other fruits, of gold and silver, were scattered by the king's own hand, and eagerly caught up by the courtiers, though of little intrinsic value. On the great day of each festival, the king was seated on his throne, in a marble palace, surrounded by nobles wearing high heron plumes and " sparkling with diamonds like the firma- ment." 40 Many hundred elephants passed before him in companies, all most richly adorned, and the leading elephant of each company with gold plates on its head and breast, set with rubies and emeralds.41 Trains of caparisoned horses followed ; and, after them, rhinoceroses, lions, tigers, and panthers, hunting leopards, hounds, and hawks ; 42 the whole concluding with an innumer- able host of cavalry glittering with cloth of gold. In the midst of all this splendour, Akber appeared with as much simplicity as dignity. He is thus described by two European eye-witnesses, with some parts of whose account I shall close his history.43 After remarking that he had less show or state than other Asiatic princes, and that he stood or sat below the throne to administer justice,44 they say, that " he is affable and majestical, merciful and severe " ; that he is skilful in mechanical arts, as " making guns, casting ordnance, etc. ; of sparing diet, sleeps but three hours a day, curiously industrious, affable to the vulgar, seeming to grace them and their presents with more respective ceremonies than the grandees ; loved and feared of his own, terrible to his enemies." 45 39 Hawkins, in Purchas's Pilgrims, 45 The principal authorities for this vol. i. account of Akber' s reign are, Ferishta, 40 Sir T. Roe says, " I own I never the Akberndmeh, by Abul Fazl, saw such inestimable wealth." the Muntakhab ut Tawdrikh ; Khali 41 Sir T. Roe. Khan, and the Kholdsat ut Tawdrikh. 42 Bernier, vol. i. p. 42. Abul Fazl, in this reign, shows all his 43 Purchas, vol. v. p. 516. usual merits, and more than his usual 44 ["It was a custom of the Mogul defects. (See p. 431.) Every event emperors to sit daily once, for the that had a tendency to take from the purpose of hearing and redressing the goodness, wisdom, or power of Akber complaints of the people, and often is passed over or misstated ; and a twice ; but this usage was discon- uniform strain of panegyric and tri- tinued by A'lamgir's successors, umph is kept up, which disgusts the which tended greatly to lose them the reader with the author, and almost respect of their subjects." (Scott's with the hero. Amidst these un- Irddat Khan, p. 5, note.) — ED.] meaning nourishes, the real merits of IX. 3 AUTHORITIES 537 Akber disappear, and it is from other authors that we learn the motives of his actions, the difficulties he had to contend with, and the resources by which they were surmounted. The gross flattery of a book written by one so well acquainted with Akber's dis- position, and submitted, it appears, to his own inspection, leaves an im- pression of the vanity of that prince, which is almost the only blot on his otherwise admirable character. The Akberndmeh was brought down by Abul Fazl nearly to the time of his own death, in the forty-seventh year of the reign, and was continued for the remaining period of upwards of three years by a person named Enayet Ullah, or Mahommed Salia. I could never have availed myself of this work without the aid of a manuscript translation of Lieutenant Chalmers of the Madras army, in the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society. The Muntakhab ut Ta- wdrikh was finished in the end of the fortieth year of the reign. It is written by Abdul Kadir of Badaun, and is a history of the Mahometan kings of India. The facts are chiefly taken from the Tabakdti Akberi down to the thirty-seventh year of Akber's reign, when that book ends. The whole of that reign, however, has many additions from the author's own knowledge, and takes its colour from his prejudices. Abdul Kadir was a learned man employed by Akber to make translations from Sanskrit ; but, being a bigoted Mus- sulman, he quarrelled with Abul Fazl and Feizi, and has filled his book with invectives against their irreligion and that of Akber (see page 522, note). He has also recorded many other grievances complained of at that time, and has disclosed those parts of the picture which were thrown into the shade by Abul Fazl. The impression of Akber left by this almost hostile narrative is much more favourable than that made by his panegyrist. [This part of his history was published in 1865 in the Biblio- theca Indica.] Khafi Khan and the author of the Kholdsat ut Tawdrikh are later compilers [the latter was a Hindu, named Sanjan Rai Munshi]. The Tabakdti Akberi, written by Ni- zam ud din Hervi, is a history of tho Mahometan kings down to the thirty- seventh of Akber, and is said to be a work of great merit ; but although I have access to a copy, I am unable to avail myself of it, for want of the assistance I require to make out the character. Besides the original of Khafi Khan, I am indebted to the kindness of Major A. Gordon, of the Madras establishment, for the use of a manuscript translation made by him of the work of that historian down to near the end of Jehangir's reign. It is much to be regretted that this excellent translation has not been carried on to the end of the history, which comes down to recent times, and affords the only full and connected account of the whole period which it embraces. [The Tabakdti Akberi appears to be the best authority for Akber's reign, after Abul Fazl. It has been very well translated by Professor Dowson in his Hist, of India, vol. v. pp. 177— 476. For an interesting account of the Hindu rajas under the Moghul government, in this and the following reigns, see an article by Mr. Bloch- mann, in the Calcutta Review, April, 1871. Mr. Blochmann has also pub- lished in the Bibl. Indica a new trans- lation of Abul Fazl's Ayini Akberi, with valuable historical notes. In vol. i. pp. 308 — 537, he has compiled a most useful series of biographical notices of the nobles of Akber's court. —ED.] 538 JEHANGIR BOOK X JEHANGIH— SHAH JEHAN CHAPTER I JEHANGfR A.D. 1605, A.H. 1014— A.D. 1627, A.H. 1307 State of India at the accession of Jehangir, October, A.D. 1605; Jamada'l akhir, A.H. 1014 — Moderate measures at the commencement of his reign — Flight of Prince Khusrou, March, A.D. 1606 ; Zi Haj 8, A.H. 1014 — His rebellion — Quashed — Barbarous punishment of the rebels — Imprisonment of Khusrou — Wars in Mewar and in the Deckan, A.D. 1607, A.H. 1016 — Insurrection of a pretended Khusrou, A.D. 1607 to 1610, A.H. 1017 to 1019 — 111 success of the war in the Deckan — Malik Amber — He recovers Ahmednagar — Marriage of the emperor with Nur Jehan, A.D. 1611, A.H. 1020 — Her history — Her influence — Combined attack on Ahmednagar — Defeated by Malik Amber, A.D. 1612, A.H. 1021 — War with Mewar — Victories and moderation of Shah Jehan (Princo Khurram) — The rana submits on honourable terms, A.D. 1614, A.H. 1023 — Influence of Shah Jehan — Supported by Nur Jehan — Insurrec- tion in Cabul quelled — Embassy of Sir T. Roe — His account of the empire, court, and character of Jehangir — Prince Khusrou — Unpopu- larity of Shah Jehan — Prince Parviz — Shah Jehan declared heir- apparent — Sent to settle the Deckan — The emperor moves to Mandii, October, A.D. 1616 ; Zi Kada, A.H. 1025 — Sir T. Roe's description of his march — Complete success of Shah Jehan, March, A.D. 1617 ; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 1026 — Residence of the emperor and Shah Jehan in Guzerat — Renewal of the disturbances in the Deckan, A.D. 1621, A.H. 1030 — Shah Jehan marches to quell them — His success in the field — He comes to terms with Malik Amber — Dangerous illness of theemperor — Measures of Parviz and Shah Jehan, about September, A.D. 1621, A.H. 1030 — Suspicious death of Khusrou — Alienation of the empress from Shah Jehan — Candahar taken by the Persians, A.D. 1621, A.H. 1031 — Shah Jehan ordered to retake it — His reluctance to leave India — The enterprise committed to Prince Shehriyar, to whom most of Shah Jehan's troops are transferred — Mohabat Khan called to court by the empress — Increased distrust between the emperor and Shah Jehan — Rebellion of Shah Jehan — Advance of the emperor, February, A.D. 1623 ; A.H. 1032 — Retreat of Shah Jehan — Its consequences — Shah Jehan retreats into Telingana — Makes his way to Bengal, A.D. 1624, A.H. 1033 — Obtains possession of Bengal and Behar — He is pursued by Prince Parviz and Mohabat Khan — Is defeated, and flies to the Deckan — State of the Deckan — Shah Jehan unites with Malik Amber — Pressed by Parviz and Mohabat Khan — Deserted by his army — Offers his submission to the emperor, A.D. 1625, A.H. 1034 — The emperor marches against the Rosheniyas in Cabul — Persecution of Mohabat Khan by the empress — His history — He is summoned to court — Brutal treatment of his son-in-law by the emperor — Mohabat seizes on the emperor's person, March, A.D. 1626 ; Jemada' 2, A.H. 1035 — Spirited conduct of Nur Jehan — She attacks Mohabat's camp — Is repulsed with heavy loss — She joins the emperor in his confinement — Insecurity of Mohabat's power — Artifices of the emperor — Quarrel between the Rajputs and the king's troops — Plots and preparations of Nur Jehan — Rescue of Jehangir — Terms granted to Mohabat Khan — He is sent against Shah Jehan — He breaks with the emperor, and joins Shah Jehan — Sickness and death of Jehangir, October 28, A.D. 1627; Safar 28, A.H. 1037. X. 1 -CONQUEROR OF THE WORLD" 539 took possession of the government immediately on his father's death, and assumed the title of Jehangir (Conqueror of the World). He found the whole of his dominions on the north of the Nerbadda in a state of as great tranquillity as could be expected in so extensive an empire. The rebellion of Osman continued in Bengal, but was confined to part of that province. The contest with the rana of Oudipur was a foreign war, and the success, though not complete, was on the side of the emperor. Affairs wore a worse aspect in the Deckan, where the Nizam Shahi government of Ahmednagar seemed to be recovering from the loss of its capital, and more likely to regain some of the territory it had been deprived of than to be completely subverted by the arms of the Moguls. Jehangir's first measures were of a much more benevolent and judicious character than might have been expected of him. He confirmed most of his father's old officers in their stations ; and issued edicts, remitting some vexatious duties which had survived Akber's reforms, forbidding the bales of merchants to be opened by persons in authority without their free consent, directing that no soldiers or servants of the state should quarter themselves on private houses, abolishing the punishments of cutting off ears and noses, and introducing other salutary regulations. Notwithstanding his own notorious habits, he strictly forbade the use of wine, and regulated that of opium ; subjecting all offenders against his rules to severe punishment. He restored the Mahometan confession of faith on his coin, together with most of the forms of that religion. He, however, kept up some of Akber's rules regarding abstinence from meat on particular days. He observed some of his superstitious devotions ; he exacted the ceremony of prostration from all who approached him ; and although, in his writings, he affects the devout style usual to all Mussulmans, he never acquired, and probably did not seriously pretend to, the character of a religious man. The general impression is, that though more superstitious, he was less devout, than Akber, arid had little feeling of religion even when abstracted from all peculiar tenets. Among his earliest measures was one for affording easy access to complaints, on which he valued himself at least as highly as the efficacy of the invention deserved : a chain was hung from a part of the wall of the citadel, accessible, without difficulty, to all descriptions of people ; it communi- cated with a cluster of golden bells within the emperor's own apartment, and he was immediately apprised by the sound 540 KHUSROU REBELS A.D. 1606, A.H. 1014 of the appearance of a suitor, and thus rendered independent of any officers inclined to keep back information. The hatred which had so long subsisted between the new emperor and his eldest son was not likely to have been dimin- ished by the events which preceded the accession. Khusrou had ever since remained in a state of sullenness and dejection : and it is by no means probable that Jehangir's treatment of him was such as would be likely to soothe his feelings. His behaviour does not appear to have given rise to any suspicion, until upwards of four months after the accession ; when Jehangir was awaked, at midnight, with the intelligence that his son had fled, with a few attendants, and taken the road to Delhi. He immediately despatched a light force in pursuit of him, and followed himself, in the morning, with all the troops he could collect. Khusrou was joined, soon after leaving Agra, by a body of 300 horse, whom he met on their march to the capital. He proceeded by Delhi, subsisting his troops by plunder, and by the time he reached the Panjab had collected a body of upwards of 10,000 men. The city of Lahor was betrayed to him, and he was making an ineffectual attempt to reduce the citadel when he was disturbed by the approach of his father's advanced guard. When this was announced to him, he drew his force out of Lahor, and attacked the royal troops ; but, although he had the advantage of engaging a detachment, he was unable to offer a successful opposition. He was totally defeated, and, having fled in the direction of Cabul, he was run aground in a boat as he was passing the Hydaspes, and was seized and brought in chains before his father. The whole rebellion did not last above a month. Khusrou's principal advisers, and many of his common followers, fell into the hands of the emperor, and afforded him an opportunity of displaying all the ferocity of his character. He ordered 700 of the prisoners to be impaled in a line leading from the gate of Lahor ; and he expatiates, in his Memoirs, on the long duration of their frightful agonies.1 To complete his barbarity, he made his son Khusrou be carried along the line on an elephant, while a mace-bearer called out to him, with mock solemnity, to receive the salutations of his servants.2 The unhappy Khusrou passed three days, in tears and groans, without tasting food ; 3 and remained for long after a prey to the deepest melancholy. 1 Price's Memoirs of Jehangir, p. general account of the rebellion is 88. from Jehangir's Memoirs, KhafiKhaii 2 Khafi Khan. and Gladwin. 3 Memoirs of Jehangir, p. 89. The X. 1 AFFAIRS IN THE DECKAN 541 Prince Parviz, the emperor's second son, had been sent, under the guidance of A'saf Khan, against the rana of Oudipur, very soon after the accession : he was recalled on the flight of Khusrou, but in that short interval he had effected an accom- modation with the rana, and now joined his father's camp. In the spring of the next year, Jehangir went to Cabul ; and, when at that city, he showed some favour to Khusrou, ordering his chains to be taken off, and allowing him to walk in a garden within the upper citadel. If he had any disposition to carry his forgiveness further, it was checked by a conspiracy, which was detected some time after, to release Khusrou, and to assassinate the emperor. On his return to Agra, Jehangir sent an army, under Mohabat Khan, against the rana of Oudipur, with whom the war had been renewed ; and another, under the Khani Khanan, to effect a settlement of the Deckan. Prince Parviz was afterwards made nominal commander of the latter force : he was too young to exercise any real authority. The only event of importance in the following years was an insurrection at Patna by a man of the lowest order, who assumed the character of Khusrou, and, seizing on the city in consequence of the supineness of the local officers, drew together so many followers, that he engaged the governor of the province in the field, and some time elapsed before he was driven back into Patna, made prisoner, and put to death. In the end of the year 1610, affairs in the Deckan assumed a serious aspect. After the taking of Ahmednagar, the conduct of the government of the new king fell into the hands of an Abyssinian named Malik Amber. This minister founded a new capital on the site of the present Aurangabad ; and main- tained, for a long series of years, the apparently sinking fortunes of the Nizam Shahi government. His talents were not confined to war : he introduced a new revenue system into the Deckaii, perhaps in imitation of Todar Mai ; and it has given his name a universal celebrity in the Deckan equal to that enjoyed in Hindostan by the other great financier.4 Malik Amber profited by some dissensions which fell out between the Khani Khanan and the other generals ; and prosecuted his advantages with such success that he repeatedly defeated the Mogul troops, retook Ahmednagar, and compelled the Khani Khanan himself to retire to Burhanpur. In these circumstances, Jehangir recalled his general, and conferred the command on Khan Jehan. It was in the sixth year of his reign that Jehangir contracted * Grant Duff's History of the Marattas, vol. i. p. 95. 542 NtFR JEHAN A.D. 1611, A.H. 1020 a marriage with the celebrated Nur Jehan, an event which influenced all the succeeding transactions of his life. The grandfather of this lady was a native of Teheran, in Persia, and held a high civil office under the government of that country. His son, Mirza Ghiyas, was reduced to poverty, and determined to seek for a maintenance by emigrating, with his wife, and a family consisting of two sons and a daughter, to India. He was pursued by misfortune even in this attempt ; and by the time the caravan with which he travelled reached Candahar, he was reduced to circumstances of great distress. Immediately on his arrival in that city his wife was delivered of Nur Jehan ; and into so abject a condition had they fallen, that the parents were unable to provide for the conveyance of their infant, or to maintain the mother so as to admit of her giving it support. The future empress was therefore exposed on the road by which the caravan was next morning to proceed. She was observed by a principal merchant of the party, who felt compassion for her situation, and was struck with her beauty ; he took her up, and resolved to educate her as his own. As a woman in a situation to act as a nurse was not easy to be found in a caravan, it is a matter of no surprise that her own mother should have been the person employed in that capacity ; and the merchant's attention being thus drawn to the distresses of the family, he relieved their immediate wants ; and perceiving the father and his eldest son to be men much above their present condition, he employed them in matters connected with his business, and became much interested in their fate. By his means they were introduced to Akber ; and, being placed in some subordinate employments, they soon rose by their own abilities. In the meantime Nur Jehan grew up, and began to excite admiration by her beauty and elegance. She often accom- panied her mother, who had free access to the harem of Akber, and there attracted the notice of Jehangir, then Prince Selim. His behaviour gave so much uneasiness to her mother, as to induce her to speak of it to the princess whom she was visiting. Through her, the case was laid before Akber, who remonstrated with his son ; and, at the same time, recommended that Nur Jehan should be married, and removed from the prince's sight. She was bestowed on Shir Afgan Khan, a young Persian lately come into the service, and to him Akber gave a jagir in Bengal.5 But these means were not sufficient to efface the impression made on Jehangir ; and, after he had been about a year on the throne, he took the opportunity of his foster-brother Kutb ud 5 [He was appointed governor of Bardwan. — ED.] X. 1 THE QUEEN'S INFLUENCE 543 din's going as viceroy of Bengal to charge him to procure for him the possession of the object of his passion. It was probably expected that all opposition from the husband would be prevented by influence and promises ; but Shir Afgan had a higher sense of honour, and no sooner sus- pected the designs that were entertained than he resigned his command, and left off wearing arms, as a sign that he was no longer in the king's service. The further progress of the affair does not appear : it must have been such as to alarm Shir Afgan ; for the viceroy having taken occasion to visit the part of the province where he resided, and having sent to invite his attendance, he went to pay his visit with a dagger concealed in his dress. An interview begun in such a spirit might be expected to close in blood. Shir Afgan, insulted by the proposals, and enraged at the threats of the viceroy, took his revenge with his dagger, and was himself immediately dispatched by the attendants. The murder of the viceroy, which was ascribed to a treason- able conspiracy, gave a colour to all proceedings against the family of the assassin. Nur Jehan was seized, and sent as a prisoner to Delhi. Jehangir soon after offered her marriage, and applied all his address to soothe and conciliate her ; but Nur Jehan was a high-spirited as well as an artful woman, and it is not improbable that she was sincere in her rejection of all overtures from one whom she looked on as the murderer of her husband. Her repugnance was so strongly displayed as to disgust Jehangir. He at length placed her among the attendants on his mother, and appeared to have entirely dis- missed her from his thoughts. His passion, however, was afterwards revived ; and reflec- tion having led his mistress to think more favourably of his offers, their marriage was celebrated with great pomp ; and Nur Jehan was raised to honours such as had never before been enjoyed by the consort of any king in India.6 From this period her ascendency knew no bounds : her father was made prime minister ; her brother was placed in a high station. The emperor took no step without consulting her ; and, on every affair in which she took an interest, her will was law. Though her sway produced bad consequences in the end, it was beneficial on the whole. Her father was a wise and upright minister ; and it must have been, in part at least, owing to her influence that so great an improvement took place in the conduct of Jehangir after the first few years of his reign. He was still capricious and tyrannical, but he was no 6 Among other marks of sove- along with the emperor's. [See reign ty her name was put on the coin Marsden, p. 635.] 544 MALIK AMBER A.D. 1612, A.H. 102 longer guilty of such barbarous cruelties as before ; and although he still carried his excess in wine to the lowest stage of inebriety, yet it was at night, and in his private apartments.7 In the occupations which kept him all day before the eyes of his subjects, he seems to have supported his character with sufficient dignity, and without any breaches of decorum. Nur Jehan's capacity was not less remarkable than her grace and beauty ; it was exerted in matters proper to her sex, as well as in state affairs. The magnificence of the emperor's court was increased by her taste, and the expense was diminished by her good arrangement. She contrived improvements in the furniture of apartments ; introduced female dresses more becoming than any in use before her time ; and it is a question in India whether it is to her or her mother that they owe the invention of ottar of roses.8 One of the accomplishments by which she captivated Jehangir is said to have been her facility in composing extempore verses. It was not long after the time of this marriage that the disturbances in Bengal were put an end to by the defeat and death of Osman. The satisfaction derived from this event was more than counterbalanced by the ill-success of the war in the Deckan. Jehangir had determined to make up for the languor of his former operations by a combined attack from all the neighbouring provinces. Abdullah Khan, viceroy of Guzerat, was to invade Malik Amber's territory from that province at the same moment that the armies under Prince Parviz and Khan Jehan Lodi, reinforced by Raja Man Sing, were to advance from Khandesh and Berar. But this well- concerted plan entirely failed in the execution. Abdullah Khan advanced prematurely from Guzerat, and Malik Amber did not lose a moment in profiting by his mistake. His mode of war was much the same as that of the modern Marattas. Owing to the neighbourhood of the European ports, his artillery was superior to that of the emperor, and afforded a rallying point on which he could always collect his army ; but his active means of offence were his light cavalry. He intercepted the supplies and harassed the march of the Moguls ; he hovered round their army when halted ; alarmed them with false attacks ; and often made real incursions into different parts of the encampment, carrying off much booty, and keeping up continual disorder and trepidation. Abdullah Khan was so 7 [Marsden gives (p. 607) a " bac- Khan mentions that the same quan- chanalian coin" dated A.H. 1023, tity of ottar (one tola) which he re- representing the Sultan as raising a members selling in the beginning of cup in his hand. — ED.] Aurangzib's reign for eighty rupees, 8 Great improvements must have was to be had, when he wrote, for taken place in later times ; for Khali seven or eight. X. 1 SHAH JEHAN 545 completely worn out by this sort of warfare, that he soon determined to retire. The consequences of a retreat before such an enemy were easy to be foreseen ; all his evils multiplied upon him from the day that it commenced ; his rear-guard was cut to pieces ; and his march had nearly become a flight before he found refuge in the hills and jungles of Baglana, whence he proceeded without molestation into Guzerat. The other armies had by this time taken the field ; but seeing Malik Amber, on his return, flushed with success over their colleague, they thought it prudent to avoid a similar calamity, and con- centrated at Burhanpur. Jehangir 's arms were attended with better fortune in his war with the rana of Oudipur ; and his success was the more welcome as the fruit of the abilities of his favourite son. Mohabat Khan, when first sent on that service, had gained a victory over the rana, but was unable to do anything decisive from the strength of the country into which he, as usual, retreated. The same fortune attended Abdullah Khan, after- wards appointed to succeed Mohabat ; but Prince Khurram (Shah Jehan),9 who was now sent with an army of 20,000 men, evinced so much spirit in his attack on the Rajput troops, and so much perseverance in bearing up against the strength of the country and the unhealthiness of the climate, that the rana was at last induced to sue for peace ; and his offer being readily accepted, he waited on Shah Jehan in person, made offerings in token of submission, and sent his son to accompany the prince to Delhi. Shah Jehan, on this occasion, did not forget the policy of Akber. The moment the rana's homage was paid, he raised him in his arms, seated him by his side, and treated him with every form of respect and attention. All the country conquered from him since the invasion of Akber was restored ; and his son, after an honourable reception from Jehangir, was raised to a high rank among the military chiefs of the empire. The merit of this campaign belonged exclusively to Shah Jehan ; for Aziz, who had been sent to assist him, had behaved to him with so much arrogance that Jehangir was soon obliged to remove him, and commit him for a time to confinement. This exploit raised Shah Jehan's credit to the highest pitch ; and as he had lately married the niece of Nur Jehan, he was supported by her powerful influence, and was generally looked on as the chosen successor to the empire. ' The name of this prince was Jehan long before his own accession, Khurram, and he bore no other at the it will prevent confusion to give him commencement of his father's reign ; that name from the first, but as he received the title of Shah N N 546 SIR THOMAS ROE During these events Raja Man Sing died in the Deckan. A rebellion of the Rosheniyas, which broke out in 1611, and in which the city of Cabul had been exposed to danger, was now terminated by the death of Ahdad, the grandson and spiritual successor of Bayazid. Abdullah Khan, viceroy of Guzerat, having incurred the king's displeasure, by oppressions in the province, and by the indignity with which he treated the royal news-writer, was ordered to be seized and sent to the capital. He anticipated the order by setting off on foot, with his troops and attendants following at a great distance. He came to court barefooted and in chains, and threw himself at the king's feet ; but was pardoned, and not long after restored to favour at the intercession of Shah Jehan. It was not long after the return of Shah Jehan that Sir T. Roe arrived at the court, as ambassador from King James I.10 His accounts enable us to judge of the state of India under Jehangir. The seaports and the customs were full of gross abuses, the governor seizing on goods at arbitrary prices. Even Roe, though otherwise treated with hospitality and respect, had his baggage searched and some articles taken by the governor.11 His journey from Surat, by Burhanpur and Chitor, to Ajmir, lay through the Deckan, where war was raging, and the rana's country, where it had just ceased ; yet he met with no obstruc- tion or alarm, except from mountaineers, who then, as now, rendered the roads unsafe in times of trouble. The Deckan bore strong marks of devastation and neglect. Burhanpur, which had before, as it has since, been a fine city, contained only four or five good houses amidst a collection of mud huts ; and the court of Par viz, held in that town, had no pretensions to splendour. In other places he was struck with the decay and desertion of some towns, contrasted with the prosperity of others. The former were, in some instances at least, deserted capitals ; * and their decline affords no argument against the general prosperity. 10 He arrived at Ajmir on Decem- Zulfikar was constrained, by his duty ber 23, 1615, accompanied the king to his own government, to maintain to Mandu and Guzerat, and left him outward appearances towards a in the end of 1618. foreign ambassador. (Orme, vol. iii. 11 It must, however, be observed, p. 361, etc.) that this governor, Zulfikar Khan, 12 Such were Mandu and T6dah, of was very inimical to the English, and both of which he speaks in the highest had lately concluded an agreement terms of admiration. Mandu, the with the Portuguese, by which he former capital of Malwa, is still gener- engaged to exclude English vessels ally known ; but Todah (the capital from his ports. The agreement was of a Rajput prince in the province of not ratified by the emperor ; and Ajmir) enjoys no such celebrity. X. 1 JEHANGIR'S DRUNKENNESS 547 The administration of the country had rapidly declined since Akber's time. The governments were farmed, and the governors exacters and tyrannical. Though a judicious and sober writer, Roe is profuse in his praise of the magnificence of the court ; and he speaks in high terms of the courtesy of the nobility, and of the order and elegance of the entertainments they gave to him. His recep- tion, indeed, was in all respects most hospitable, though the very moderate scale of his presents and retinue was not likely to conciliate a welcome where state was so generally main- tained. He was excused from all humiliating ceremonials, was allowed to take the highest place in the court on public occa- sions, and was continually admitted into familiar intercourse with the emperor himself. The scenes he witnessed at his private interviews form a curious contrast to the grandeur with which the Mogul was surrounded. He sat on a low throne all covered with diamonds, pearls, and rubies ; and had a great display of gold plate, vases, and goblets, set with jewels. The party was free from all restraint, scarcely one of them remaining sober except Sir Thomas and a few other grave personages, who were cautious in their indulgence. Jehangir himself never left off till he dropped asleep, when the lights were extinguished and the company withdrew. On these occasions he was overflowing with kindness, which increased with the effects of the wine : and once, after talking with great liberality of all religions, ;' he fell to weeping, and to various passions, which kept them to midnight." But he did not retain these sociable feelings in the morning. On one occasion, when a courtier indiscreetly alluded in public to a debauch of the night before, Jehangir affected surprise, inquired what other persons had shared in this breach of the law, and ordered those named to be so severely bastinadoed that one of them died. He always observed great strictness in public, and never admitted a person into his presence who, from his breath or otherwise, gave any signs of having been drinking wine. His reserve, however, was of little use : like great men at present, he was surrounded by news- writers ; and his most secret proceedings, and even the most minute actions of his life, were known to every man in the capital within a few hours after they took place. Notwithstanding the case above mentioned, and some other instances of inhumanity, Roe seems to consider Jehangir as neither wanting in good feelings nor good sense ; although his claim to the latter quality is somewhat impaired by some weaknesses which Sir Thomas himself relates. In one case 548 CHARACTER OF THE COURT he seized on a convoy coming to the ambassador from Surat, and consisting of presents intended for himself and his court, together with the property of some merchants who took ad- vantage of the escort ; he rummaged the packages himself with childish curiosity ; and had recourse to the meanest apologies to appease and cajole Roe, who was much provoked at this disregard of common honesty. Though Roe speaks highly in some respects of particular great men, he represents the class as unprincipled, and all open to corruption. The treaty he had to negotiate hung on for upwards of two years, until he bribed A'saf Khan with a valuable pearl ; after which all went on well and smoothly. Both Roe and other contemporary travellers represent the military spirit as already much declined, and speak of the Rajputs and Patans as the only brave soldiers to be found.13 The manual arts were in a high state, and were not confined to those peculiar to the country. One of Sir T. Roe's presents was a coach, and within a very short period several others were constructed, very superior in materials, and fully equal in workmanship. Sir Thomas also gave a picture to the Mogul, and was soon after presented with several copies, among which he had great difficulty in distinguishing the original.14 There was a great influx of Europeans, and considerable encourage- ment to their religion. Jehangir had figures of Christ and the Virgin at the head of his rosary ; and two of his nephews embraced Christianity, with his full approbation.15 The language of the court was Persian, but all classes spoke Hindostani ; and Hawkins, who only knew Turkish, found the emperor himself and the Khani Khanan well versed in that tongue. No subject seems to have excited more interest, both in the ambassador and the court, than the fate of Prince Khusrou. All his bad qualities were forgotten in his misfortunes ; he was supposed to be endowed with every virtue ; the greatest joy prevailed when any sign appeared of his restoration to favour, and corresponding indignation when he fell into the power of his enemies. Even the king was supposed to be attached to him, though wrought on by the influence of Shah Jehan and the arts of A'saf Khan and Nur Jehan.16 Khusrou's 13 Roe. Terry. Hawkins. with the army. He stopped under 14 Among the articles he recom- the shade of a tree during the heat, mends for presents are historical and sent for Sir Thomas, who was paintings, nightpieces, and land- near. His person was comely, his scapes : " but good, for they under- countenance cheerful, and his beard stand them as well as we." was grown down to his girdle. He 15 Roe. Hawkins. Terry. Coryat. knew nothing of what was passing, 16 Sir T. Roe once met Khusrou, and had not heard either of the while moving in loose custody, along English or of their ambassador. X. 1 EXPEDITION TO THE DECKAN 549 exclusion was not the more popular for its being in favour of Shah Jehan ; who, according to Sir T. Roe, was " flattered by some, envied by others, loved by none." Roe himself represents him as a bigot and a tyrant ; but as his conduct shows nothing but ability and correctness, it is probable that he owed his unpopularity to his cold and haughty manners ; the ambassador himself remarking that he never saw so settled a countenance, or any man keep so constant a gravity — never smiling, nor by his looks showing any respect or distinction of persons, but entire pride and contempt for all. Yet the prince could not at that time have been older than twenty-five. Shah Jehan might have expected to find a formidable rival in Parviz, his elder brother, but that prince, though sometimes an object of jealousy to him, could offer no really formidable opposition to the superior abilities of Shah Jehan supported by the influence of the empress. A final blow was given to any hopes that Parviz may have entertained by the elevation of his brother to the title of king,17 on his undertaking a great expedition against the Deckan. He was invested with ample powers on this occasion ; and Jehangir himself moved to Mandu, to be at hand to support him in case of need. Roe accompanied the emperor on his march ; and his account of the movement of the army forms a striking contrast to the good order and discipline he had hitherto admired. The court and camp, while halted, were as regular as ever, but the demand for carriage cattle created a general scramble and confusion. The Persian ambassador and Roe were left for some days at Ajmir, from the want of conveyance for their baggage ; and the tents of the soldiers and followers were set fire to, to compel them to proceed, though ill provided. When actually in motion, the same want of arrangement was felt : sometimes there was a deficiency of water ; and sometimes, in long and difficult marches through woods and mountains, the road was scattered with coaches, carts, and camels, unable to proceed to the stage.18 The state of affairs in the Deckan was very favourable to Shah Jehan. The ascendency of a private person, like Malik Amber, led to jealousy among his confederates, and even his own officers. In consequence of these dissensions, he had suffered a defeat, which produced still further discouragement among the allies ; so that when Shah Jehan entered the Deckan, 17 From this time some writers call says Roe, " I encountered all the him Shah Khurram, and others Shah inconveniences that men are subject Jehan. to under an ill government and an 18 ''In following the Mogul's court," intemperate climate." 550 AMBER DEFEATED A D. 1617, A.H. 1026 he found little difficulty in detaching the king of Bijapur from the confederacy ; and Amber, seeing himself entirely deserted, was likewise compelled to make submission on the part of his nominal sovereign, Nizam Shah, and to restore the fort of Ahmednagar and all the other territory which he had recon- quered from the Moguls. After this glorious termination of the war, Shah Jehan returned to Mandu, and joined his father, within a twelvemonth of the time when they had marched from Ajmir. Jehangir took this occasion to visit the province of Guzerat ; he remained there for near a year, and added the vice-royalty of that province to the governments previously held by Shah Jehan. He quitted Guzerat in September, 1618; and the next two years are marked by no events, except an insurrection in the Panjab ; the capture of the fort of Kangra or Nagarcot, under the mountains ; and a journey of the emperor to Cashmir. While in that valley, he received intelligence of a renewal of the war in the Deckan. It seems to have been begun without provocation, by Malik Amber, who probably was tempted by some negligence on the other side ; for he had little difficulty in taking possession of the open country, and driving the Mogul commanders into Burhanpur, from whence they sent most earnest entreaties for help from Jehangir. Shah Jehan was again ordered to march with a powerful army, and great- treasures were collected to supply him after he reached the frontier. From some rising distrust in his mind, he refused to march, unless his brother, Prince Khusrou, were made over to his custody, and allowed to go with him to the Deckan. Being gratified in this respect, he entered on the service with his usual ability. Before he reached Malwa, a detachment of Malik Amber's had crossed the Nerbadda, and burned the suburbs of Mandu ; but they were driven back as the prince advanced, and he, in turn, crossed the Nerbadda, and began offensive operations. Malik Amber had recourse to his usual mode of war — cut off supplies and detachments, hung upon the line of march, and attempted, by long and rapid marches, to surprise the camp. He found Shah Jehan always on his guard, was at last compelled to risk the fate of the campaign in a general action, and was defeated with considerable loss. But although Shah Jehan had a clear superiority in the field, he still found a serious obstruction in the exhausted state of the country. It was therefore with great satisfaction that he received overtures from Amber, offering a further cession, and agreeing to pay a sum of money. Not long after this success, Jehangir was seized with a X. 1 DEATH OF KHUSROU 551 violent attack of asthma, a complaint from which he suffered severely during the rest of his life. He was for some time in such imminent danger as to lead to expectations of an immediate vacancy of the throne. Parviz hastened to court, but was sent back to his government with a reprimand ; and though Shah Jehan had not time to take such a step before he heard of his father's recovery, yet the sudden death of Prince Khusrou, which happened at this juncture, was so opportune, that it brought the strongest suspicions of violence against the rival to whose custody he had been entrusted. We ought not, however, too readily to believe that a life not sullied by any other crime could be stained by one of so deep a dye. This event, which seemed to complete the security of Shah Jehan's succession, was, in reality, the cause of a series of dangers and disasters that nearly ended in his ruin. Up to this period, his own influence had been strengthened by the all-powerful support of Nur Jehan ; but about the time of his departure for the Deckan, that princess had affianced her daughter by Shir Afgan to Prince Shehriyar, the youngest son of Jehangir,19 a connexion of itself sufficient to undermine her exclusive attachment to the party of her more distant relative. But her views were further changed by a consideration of the impossibility of her gaining an ascendency, such as she now possessed, over an active and intelligent prince like Shah Jehan. During her father's lifetime she had been kept within bounds of moderation by his prudent counsels : after his death, which happened about this time, she exercised her dominion over the emperor without the least control ; her brother, A'saf Khan (to whose daughter Shah Jehan was married) being a mere instrument of her will. Unwilling to relinquish such unlimited power, she determined by all means to oppose the succession of Shah Jehan ; and, warned by the death of Khusrou, and the danger of Jehangir, she saw that she had not a moment to lose in cutting off the resources which might at any time enable the prince to overcome her opposition. An opportunity was not long wanting of pursuing this design. Candahar having been taken by the Persians, it was pointed out as an enterprise worthy of the conqueror of the Deckan to recover that ancient possession. Shah Jehan at first gave in to the project, and advanced as far as Mandu, on his way to the north ; but perceiving, before long, that the object was to remove him from the country where his influence was established, and engage him in a remote and difficult command, he put off his further march, on pretext 19 Khafi Khan. 552 SHAH JEHAN REBELS A.D. 1622, A.H. 1031 of the season and the state of his troops, and began to stipulate for some securities to be given to him before he should venture to move out of India. These demands were represented to Jehangir as arising from a project of independence ; and Shah Jehan was directed, in reply, to send the greater part of his army to the capital, in order that it might accompany Shehriyar, to whom the recovery of Candahar was to be committed. Orders were also sent direct to the principal officers to leave Shah Jehan' s camp and repair to that of Shehriyar. This drew a remon- strance from Shah Jehan, who now desired to be allowed to wait on his father, while the other as peremptorily ordered him to return to the Deckan. The jagirs which Shah Jehan held in Hindostan were transferred to Shehriyar during these discussions ; and Shah Jehan, who had not been consulted in the arrangement, was desired to select an equivalent in the Deckan and Guzerat. As things drew towards a crisis, Nur Jehan, distrusting both the military talents of her brother and his zeal in her present cause, cast her eyes on Mohabat Khan, the most rising general of the time, but hitherto the particular enemy of A'saf Khan. He was accordingly sum- moned to court from his government of Cabul, and was treated with every mark of favour and confidence. Jehangir, who had been again in Cashmir, returned on the commencement of these discussions, and fixed his court at Lahor, to be at hand in case his presence should be required. In the meantime messages passed between Shah Jehan and the emperor, but with so little effect in producing a reconcilia- tion, that Jehangir put several persons to death on suspicion of a plot with his son ; and Shah Jehan, finding that his fate was sealed, marched from Mandu with his army toward Agra. Jehangir, on this, marched from Lahor, and, passing through the capital, arrived within twenty miles of the rebel army, lying at Belochpur, forty miles south of Delhi. Shah Jehan retired into the neighbouring hills of Mewat, and disposed his troops so as to shut the passes against a force which the emperor detached in quest of him. A partial and indecisive action took place, and is said to have been followed by negotiations. The result was, that Shah Jehan determined to retire, and set out on his march for Mandu. It does not appear what induced him to adopt this step : it was attended with all the consequences usual with attempts to recede in civil wars. Jehangir advanced in person to Ajmir, and sent on a strong force, under Prince Parviz and Mohabat Khan, to follow up the retiring rebels. Rustam Khan, whom Shah Jehan had left to defend the hills on the Chambal, deserted X. 1 DEFEAT OF SHAH JEHAN 553 to the enemy ; the province of Guzerat expelled his governor, and he was himself compelled, by the advance of the imperial army, to cross the Nerbadda, and retire to Burhanpur. Nor was he long permitted to remain there in tranquillity ; for Mohabat Khan, having blinded him by some delusive nego- tiations, crossed the Nerbadda, and was joined by the Khani Khanan, who till this time had been attached to Shah Jehan. The rains were at their height when Shah Jehan commenced his retreat into Telingana, and a great part of his forces had deserted him before he directed his course to Masulipatam, with the intention of making his way to Bengal. He accom- plished this long and arduous march by the early part of the succeeding year, and met with no opposition in Bengal, until he reached Rajmahal, where the governor of the province engaged him, and was defeated in a pitched battle. By this victory, Shah Jehan obtained possession of Bengal, and was enabled to seize on Behar, and to send on a detachment under Bhim Sing, the brother of the rana of Oudipur, to endeavour to secure the fort of Allahabad. In the meantime Prince Parviz and Mohabat Khan, after chasing Shah Jehan from the Deckan, had cantoned for the rainy season at Burhanpur. On hearing of his arrival and rapid progress in Bengal, they put themselves in motion in the direction of Allahabad. Shah Jehan crossed the Ganges to meet them ; but the people of the country, who were not inclined to enter on opposition to the emperor, refused to bring in supplies to his camp, or to assist in keeping up his communi- cations by means of the boats on the Ganges. The discourage- ment and privations which were the consequence of this state of things, led to the desertion of the new levies which Shah Jehan had raised in Bengal ; and when, at last, he came to an action with his opponents, he was easily overpowered, his army dispersed, and himself constrained once more to seek for refuge in the Deckan. Affairs in that quarter were favourable to his views. During his first flight to the Deckan the king of Bijapur and Malik Amber had both remained steady to their engagement with Jehangir ; and the king of Golconda had shown no disposition to assist him during his retreat through Telingana. Since that time the Moguls had taken part on the side of the king of Bijapur, in a dispute between him and Malik Amber ; and the latter chief retaliated by invading the Mogul dominions, and carrying his ravages to the neigh- bourhood of Burhanpur. He was therefore prepared to receive Shah Jehan with open arms, and wrote to press him to under- take the siege of Burhanpur. Shah Jehan complied, and commenced his operations. The place made an obstinate 554 MOHABAT KHAN A.D. 1625, A.H. 1034 defence ; and, in the end, the return of Parviz and Mohabat to the Nerbadda obliged him to raise the siege and attend to his own safety. His adherents now deserted him in greater numbers than before ; and, being dispirited by ill-health as well as adverse fortune, he wrote to beg his father's forgiveness, and to express his readiness to submit to his commands. Jehangir directed him to give up the forts of Rohtas in Behar, and Asirghar in the Deckan, both of which were still in his possession, and to send two of his sons, Dara Shukoh and Aurangzib, to court, as hostages for his good behaviour. These demands were complied with ; but we are prevented from judging of the treatment designed for Shah Jehan by an event which, for a time, threw the whole empire into confusion. After the first retreat of Shah Jehan to the Deckan, Jehangir returned from Ajmir to Delhi ; and, believing all serious danger to his government to be at an end, he went on his usual expedition to Cashmir, and repeated it in the following year. On the third year he was induced, by a new revolt of the Rosheniyas, to change his destination for Cabul ; and although he soon heard of the suppression of the rebellion, and received the head of Ahmed, the son of Alidad, wTho was the leader of it, he made no change in his determination. But he was not destined to accomplish this journey in tranquillity ; for no sooner was Shah Jehan reduced to sub- mission than the domineering spirit of Nur Jehan proceeded to raise up new enemies. Mohabat Khan was the son of Ghor Beg, a native of Cabul.20 He had attained the rank of a com- mander of 500 under Akber, and was raised to the highest dignities and employments by Jehangir. He had long enjoyed a high place in the opinion of the people,21 and might now be considered as the most eminent of all the emperor's subjects. This circumstance alone might have been sufficient to excite the jealousy of Nur Jehan. It is probable, however, that she also distrusted Mohabat for his old enmity to her brother, and his recent connexion with Parviz. Whatever might be the motive, he was now summoned to court, to answer charges of oppression and embezzlement during the time of his occupation of Bengal. He at first made excuses for not attending, and was supported by Parviz ; but, finding that his appearance was insisted on, he set out on his journey, accompanied by a body of 5,000 Rajputs, whom he had contrived to attach to his service. Before his arrival, he betrothed his daughter to a young 20 Memoirs of Jehangir, p. 30. man, well-beloved by all men, and the 21 Sir T. Roe, in A.D. 1616, says of king's only favourite, but cares not him, that he is a noble and generous for the prince (Shah Jehan). X. 1 CAPTURE OF JEHANGIR 555 nobleman, named Berkhordar, without first asking the em- peror's leave, as was usual with persons of his high rank. Jehangir was enraged at this apparent defiance : he sent for Berkhordar, and, in one of those fits of brutality which still broke out, he ordered him to be stripped naked and beaten with thorns in his own presence ; and then seized on the dowry he had received from Mohabat, and sequestrated all his other property. When Mohabat himself approached the camp, he was informed that he would not be admitted to the emperor's presence ; and, perceiving that his ruin was predetermined, he resolved not to wait till he should be separated from his troops, but to strike a blow, the very audacity of which should go far to insure its success. Jehangir was at this time encamped on the Hydaspes ; and was preparing to cross it, by a bridge of boats, on his way to Cabul. He sent the army across the river in the first instance, intending to follow at his leisure, when the crowd and confusion should be over. The whole of the troops had passed, and the emperor remained with his personal guafds and attendants, when Mohabat, getting his men under arms a little before daybreak, sent a detachment of 2,000 men o seize the bridge, and moved himself, with all speed, to th^ spot where the emperor was encamped. The place was quickly surrounded by his troops ; while he himself, at the head of a chosen body of 200 men, pushed straight for the emperor's tent. The attendants were overthrown and dispersed before they were aware of the nature of the attack ; and Jehangir, who was not quite recovered from the effects of his last night's debauch, was awakened by the rush of armed men around his bed : he started up, seized his sword, and, after staring wildly round, he perceived what had befallen him, and exclaimed, ;' Ah ! Mohabat Khan ! traitor ! what is this ? ' Mohabat Khan replied by prostrating himself on the ground, and lamenting that the persecution of his enemies had forced him to "have recourse to violence to obtain access to his master. Jehangir at first could scarcely restrain his indignation ; but observing, amidst all Mohabat' s humility, that he was not disposed to be trifled with, he gradually accommodated himself to his circumstances, and endeavoured to conciliate his captor. Mohdbat now suggested to him that, as it was near his usual time of mounting, it was desirable that he should show himself in public to remove alarm, and check the misrepresentations of the ill-disposed. Jehangir assented, and endeavoured to withdraw, on pretence of dressing, to his female apartments, where he hoped to have an opportunity of consulting with 556 THE QUEEN ACTS A.D. 1626, A.H. 1035 Nur Jehan : being prevented from executing his design, he prepared himself where he was, and at first mounted a horse of his own in the midst of the Rajputs, who received him with respectful obeisances ; but Mohabat, reflecting that he would be in safer custody, as well as more conspicuous, on an elephant whose driver could be depended on, urged him to adopt that mode of conveyance, and placed him on one of those animals with two armed Rajputs by his side. At this moment, the chief elephant-driver, attempting to force his way through the Rajputs, and to seat the emperor on an elephant of his own, was despatched on a sign from Mohabat. One of Jehangir's personal attendants who reached the elephant, not without a wound, was allowed to mount with his master ; and the same permission was given to the servant who was intrusted with the bottle and goblet, so essential to Jehangir's existence. These examples of the consequence of resistance had their full effect on the emperor, and he proceeded very tractably to the tents of Mohabat Khan. Meanwhile Nur Jehan, though dismayed at this unexpected calamity, did not lose her presence of mind. When she found all access cut off to the emperor, she immediately put on a disguise, and set out for the bridge in a litter of the most ordi- nary description. As the guards were ordered to let every one pass, but permit no one to return, she crossed the river without obstruction, and was soon safe in the midst of the royal camp. She immediately sent for her brother and the principal chiefs, and bitterly reproached them with their cowardice and neglect, in allowing their sovereign to be made a prisoner before their eyes. She did not confine herself to invectives, but made immediate preparations to rescue her husband by force ; and although Jehangir, probably in real apprehension of what might happen to himself in the confusion, sent a messenger with his signet to entreat that no attack might be made, she treated the message as a trick of Mohabat's, and 'only suspended her proceedings until she could ascertain the real position of the enemy's camp, and the part of it inhabited byjthe emperor. During the night, a nobleman named Fedai Khan made an attempt to carry off Jehangir, by swimming the river at the head of a small body of horse ; his approach was discovered, and it was with difficulty he effected his escape, after losing several of his companions killed and drowned in the river. Next morning the whole army moved down to the attack. It was headed by Nur Jehan herself, who appeared on the howdah of a high elephant, with a bow and two quivers of arrows. The bridge had been burnt by the Rajputs, and the X. 1 NtTR JEHAN REPULSED 557 army began to cross by a ford which they had discovered lower down the river. It was a narrow shoal between deep water, and full of dangerous pools, so that the passage was not effected without the utmost disorder : many were obliged to swim, and all landed with their powder wetted, weighed down with their drenched clothes and armour, and obliged to engage hand-to-hand before they could make good their footing on the beach. Nur Jehan was among the foremost, on her elephant, with her brother and some of the principal chiefs around her : she with difficulty effected a landing, but found it impossible to make any impression on the enemy. The Rajputs had the advantage of the ground : they poured down showers of balls, arrows, and rockets on the troops in the ford ; and, rushing down on those who were landing, drove them back into the water, sword in hand. A scene of universal tumult and confusion ensued : the ford was choked with horses and elephants ; some fell, and were trampled under foot ; others sank in the pools, and were unable to regain the shoal ; and numbers plunged into the river, and ran the chance of making good their passage, or being swept away by the stream. The most furious assault was directed on Nur Jehan : her elephant was surrounded by a crowd of Rajputs ; her guards were overpowered and cut down at its feet ; balls and arrows fell thick round her howdah : and one of the latter wounded the infant daughter of Shehriyar, who was seated in her lap. At length her driver was killed ; and her elephant, having received a cut on the proboscis, dashed into the river, and soon sank in deep water, and was carried down by the stream : after several plunges, he swam out and reached the shore, when Nur Jehan was surrounded by her women, who came shrieking and lamenting, and found her howdah stained with blood, and herself busy in extracting the arrow, and binding up the wound of the infant. Fedai Khan had made another attempt, during the confusion of the battle, to enter the enemy's camp at an unsuspected point, and had penetrated so far that his balls and arrows fell within the tent where Jehangir was seated ; but the general repulse forced him also to retire. He effected his retreat, wounded and with the loss of many of his men ; and immediately retired to the neighbouring fort of Rohtas, of which he was the governor. Nur Jehan now saw that there was no hope of rescuing her husband by force ; and she determined to join him in his captivity, and trust to fortune and her own arts for effecting his deliverance. Mohabat Khan, after his success at the Hydaspes, advanced 558 DISSENSION IN MOHABAT'S ARMY to Attok, where A'saf Khan had retired. His authority was now so well established that it was recognized by most of the army ; and A'saf Khan, and such leaders as attempted to hold out, were obliged in the end to give themselves up as prisoners. But the security and even the extent of Mohabat's power was far from being so great as it appeared. His haughty and violent behaviour to those who had been opposed to him took deep root in their breasts ; the ascendency of the Rajputs was offensive to the other troops ; and, as the provinces were still faithful to the emperor, and two of his sons at large, Mohabat was obliged to use great management in his treatment of his prisoner, and to effect his objects by persuasion rather than by force or fear. Jehangir, tutored by Nur Jehan, took full advantage of the circumstances in which he was placed ; he affected to enter into Mohabat's views with his usual facility ; expressed himself pleased to be delivered from the thraldom in which he had been kept by A'saf Khan ; and even carried his duplicity so far as to warn Mohabat that he must not think Nur Jehan was as well disposed to him as he was himself, and to put him on his guard against little plots that were occasion- ally formed for thwarting his measures. Mohabat was com- pletely blinded by these artifices, and, thinking himself sure of the emperor, he gave less heed to the designs of others. During these proceedings the army advanced to Cabul ; the neighbourhood of the Afghans made it necessary to increase the king's guard, and Nur Jehan seized the opportunity of getting persons in her interest to offer their services in such a way as to avoid suspicion. Jehangir was allowed, at this time, to go out to shoot on an elephant, always surrounded by Rajputs, and with one in particular, who stuck to him like his shadow, and never for a moment let him out of his sight. On one of these occasions an affray took place between the Rajputs with the emperor and some of the Ahdis, a select body of single horsemen, whose duty it was to attend on his Majesty. The largest part of the escort being composed of Rajputs, the Ahdis were overpowered, and several of them killed ; and on their complaining to Mohabat, he said he would be happy to punish the offence if they could bring it home to any individuals. The Ahdis, incensed at this evasion, fell with their whole force on a body of Rajputs, killed many, and drove others into the hills, where they were made slaves by the Hazarehs. Mohabat himself was exposed to so much danger in this disturbance, that he was forced to take refuge in the king's tent. Next day the ringleaders were punished ; but a portion of the army was left in open enmity with the Rajputs, whose numbers were also diminished ; and the Afghans of the X. 1 ESCAPE OF JEHANGIR 559 neighbourhood showed every disposition to take part with the emperor. Nur Jehan could therefore pursue her schemes with less obstruction and less fear of detection. She employed agents to enlist fit men in scattered points at a distance, whence some were to straggle into camp as if in quest of service, while the others were to remain at their positions, and await her further orders. She next made Jehangir suggest a muster of the troops of all the jagirdars ; and when she was summoned to produce her contingent, she affected to be indignant at being put on a level with an ordinary subject, and said she would take care that her muster should not turn out to her discredit. Accordingly, she dressed out her old troops so as to make the smallness of their number conspicuous, entertained new levies as if to complete her contingent, and at the same time directed her recruits in the country to repair by twos and threes to the army. All this could not be done without some alarm to Mohabat Khan ; but he was no longer able to crush opposition by force, and he suffered himself to be persuaded by Jehangir to avoid personal risk, by forbearing to accompany him to the muster of Nur Jehan' s contingent. Jehangir advanced alone to the review ; and he had no sooner got to the centre of the line than the troops closed in on him, cut off the Rajput horse by whom he was guarded, and, being speedily joined by their confederates, rendered it impossible to make any attempt to seize his person. Mohabat Khan perceived that his power was irretrievably lost ; and immediately withdrew to a distance with his troops, and entered on negotiation to procure his pardon and assurance of safety. Jehangir was now restored to liberty, and Nur Jehan to power. She had relinquished none of her designs during the period of her adversity ; and as she was obliged to make terms with Mohabat, to procure the release of her brother, who wa» his prisoner, she determined to connect the pardon of one enemy with the destruction of another, and made it a condition of the emperor's reconciliation with Mohabat, that he should imme- diately have the u^e of his services against Shah Jehan. That prince, after his own submission and the misfortune of his father, had come from the Deckan to Ajmir with only 1,000 men, in the hopes that his army might increase as he advanced ; but Raja Kishen Sing, his principal adherent, dying at that place, instead of an accession, he suffered the loss of half his numbers, and was obliged, as the only means of securing his personal safety, to fly across the desert to Sind. He was then in the lowest state of depression, and would have retired to Persia if he had not been prevented by ill-health. From this time his fortunes began to brighten : he heard of the death of 560 DEATH OF JEHANGIR Parviz at Burhanpur, and learned also that Mohabat, instead of pursuing him, was now himself pursued by an army of the emperor, with whom he had again come to a rupture. Encouraged by these circumstances, he set off, through Guzerat, for the Deckan, where he was soon joined by Mohabat with such part of his force as still remained.22 Jehangir, soon after his deliverance, marched back from Cabul to Lahor. Some time was spent in restoring every branch of the government to its old footing ; and when all had been satisfactorily arranged, the emperor set off on his annual visit to Cashmir. Some time after his arrival in that valley, Shehriyar was seized with so violent an illness that he was obliged to leave Cashmir for the warmer climate of Lahor. Not long after his departure, Jehangir was himself taken ill with a severe return of his asthma, and it soon became evident that his life was in great danger. An attempt was made to remove him to Lahor ; his complaint was increased by the motion and passage of the mountains ; and before he had got over a third of his journey he had a severe attack, and died soon after reaching his tent, in the sixtieth year of his age. Several of the great men of the time of Akber died shortly before Jehangir : Aziz died before the usurpation of Mohabat, Malik Amber during its continuance, and Mirza Khan (the Khani Khanan) shortly after it was suppressed. Among the occurrences of Jehangir 's reign may be men- tioned an edict against the use of tobacco, which was then a novelty. It would be curious, as marking the epoch of the introduction of a practice now universal in Asia, if the name of tambacu, by which it is known in most eastern countries, were not of itself sufficient to show its American origin.83 22 Gladwin's Jehangir. Khafi Khan he only quotes the Madsiri Jehdngiri, makes an intermediate reconciliation and the Memoirs of the emperor, of between Mohabat and Jehangir, and which last he possessed a much more another visit of Mohabat to court, complete copy than that translated followed by a fresh revolt ; but these by Major Price. The Memoirs thern- rapid changes appear inexplicable ; selves contain a great deal of informa - and it is not easy to believe that if tion regarding particular periods and Mohabat had been in Nur Jehan's the characters of individuals ; and hands, having no longer her brother though written in a rambling arid for a hostage, he would again have inaccurate mariner, are riot without been allowed to retire in safety. signs of talent. A large portion of 23 Where no other authority is them is composed of stories of magical quoted for facts in this reign, the\ are performances ; some, though greatly taken from Khafi Khan, from Glad- exaggerated, are obviously tricks of win's Reign of Jehdngir, or from the ventriloquism and legerdemain, but autobiographical Memoirs of the em- all regarded by the emperor as in peror. Khafi Khan's history is com- some degree the result of supernatural piled fromrvarious accounts, written power. Those fables would lead to ;i and oral, ffi Mr. Gladwin's is evidently lower estimate of his intelligence, if all drawn from^written histories, but we did not remember the demonology X. 2 NtTR JEHAN'S INFLUENCE ENDS 661 SHAH JEHAN, TILL 1657 A'saf Khan takes part with Shah Jehan — Imprisons the empress — Defeats Shehriyar, who is put to death — Shah Jehan arrives from the Deckan, and is proclaimed at Agra, Jan. 26, A.D. 1628 ; Jamada'l A'khir 7, A.H. 1037 — Local disturbances — History of Khan Jehan Lodi — Hia flight from Agra — His proceedings in the Deckan. The emperor marches against him, October, A.D. 1629 ; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 1039 — State of the Deckan — Khan Jehan driven out of Ahmednagar — Pursued by Azam Khan — Fails in obtaining an asylum at Bijapur — His ally, the king of Ahmednagar, defeated — Khan Jehan flies from the Deckan — Is cut off in Bundelcand — His dea,th, A.D. 1630, A.H. 1040 — Continuance of the war with Ahmednagar — Famine and pestilence in the Deckan — The king of Bijapur joins the king of Ahmednagar — Murder of the king of Ahmednagar by his minister Fath Khan, who submits to Shah Jehan — War with Bijapur continues — Tergiversation of Fath Khan — Siege of Bijapur — Failure of the siege — The emperor returns to Delhi, March, A.D. 1632 ; Ramazan, A.H. 1041 — Ill-success of the operations in the Deckan, A.D. 1634 — Shahji Bosla attempts to restore the king of Ahmednagar — The emperor returns to the Deckan, November, A.D. 1635 ; Jamada'l awwal, A.H. 1045 — Failure of another attempt on Bijapur — Peace with Bijapur, A.D. 1636, A.H. 1046 — Sub- mission of Shahji Bosla — The emperor exacts a tribute from Golconda — Returns to Delhi, A.D. 1637, A.H. 1046 — Local disturbances and successes in Hindostan — Recovery of Candahar, A.D. 1637, A.H. 1047 — Ali Merdan Khan — Invasion of Balkh — Services of the Rajputs in the mountains of Hindu Gush — Shah Jehan moves to Cabul, A.D. 1645, A.H. 1055 — Balkh reduced by Prince Morad and Ali Merdan Khan — Overrun by the Uzbeks from beyond the Oxus, July, A.D. 1646; Jamada'l A'khir, A.H. 1056 — Aurangzib sent against them, A.D. 1647, A.H. 1057 — Is besieged in Balkh — Shah Jehan abandons his conquest — Disastrous retreat of Aurangzib, about the end of A.D. 1647, A.H. 1057 — Candahar retaken by the Persians, A.D. 1648, A.H. 1058 — Aurangzib sent to recover it, Jamada'l awwal, A.H. 1059 — Fails in the siege of Candahar, about Sept. A.D. 1649 ; Ramazan, A.H. 1059 — Second at- tempt on Candahar under Aurangzib, A.D. 1659, A.H. 1061 — Its failure — Great expedition under Prince Dara Shukoh, A.D. 1653, A.H. 1063 — Siege of Candahar, September, A.D. 1653 ; Shawwal 9, A.H. 1063 — Failure and retreat of Dara Shukoh, November, A.D. 1653 ; Moharram, A.H. 1064 — Death of the vazir, Saad Ullah Khan — Renewal of the war in the Deckan, under Aurangzib — Intrigues of Aurangzib at Golconda — Mir Jumla — Treacherous attack on Heiderabad by Aurangzib, January, A.D. 1656 ; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 1066 — Submis- sion of the king of Golconda, May, A.D. 1656 ; A.H. 1066 — Unpro- voked war with Bijapur, March, A.D. 1657 ; A.H. 1067. THE influence of Nur Jehan expired with her husband, and the fruit of all her long intrigues was lost in a moment. Her of his contemporary in England. of Jehangir is undoubtedly one of the [Mr. Morley, in his Catalogue, shows most curious and interesting works in that there are two editions of this the whole range of the Muhammadan autobiography. The one, translated literature of India, presenting, as it by Major Price, gives an imperfect does, a complete picture of the pri- and confused account of only the first vate life of one of the most powerful two years of the Sultan's reign ; the and despotic monarchs of the world, other contains the autobiography of of his own views, moral and political, eighteen years, and is completed by of the manners of his court, and of an editor, Muhammad Hadi. Mr. the chief events of his reign." — ED.} Morley says : ' The autobiography O O 562 SHAH JEHAN KING A.D. 1628, A.H. 1037 favourite, Shehriyar, was absent, and A'saf Khan, who was all along determined to support Shah Jehan, immediately sent off a messenger to summon him from the Deckan. In the meantime, to sanction his own measures by the appearance of legal authority, he released Prince Dawar, the son of Khusrou, from prison, and proclaimed him king.1 Nur Jehan, endea- vouring to support the cause of Shehriyar, was placed under a temporary restraint by her brother ; and from that time, although she survived for many years, her name is never again mentioned in history.2 A'saf Khan then continued his march to Lahor. Shehriyar, who was already in that city, seized the royal treasure, bought over the troops, and, forming a coalition with two sons of his uncle, the late Prince Daniyal, marched out to oppose A'saf Khan. The battle ended in his defeat ; he fled into the citadel, was given up by his adherents, and he was afterwards put to death, with the sons of Daniyal, by orders from Shah Jehan.3 The new emperor lost no time in obeying the summons of A'saf Khan. He left the Deckan, accompanied by Mohabat ; and on his arrival at Agra caused his accession to be proclaimed, and took formal possession of the throne.4 The highest honours were conferred on A'saf Khan and Mohabat, and great promotions and distributions of money were made to the friends and adherents of the emperor. Among his first acts were, to abolish the ceremony of prostration, to restore the Mahometan lunar year in ordinary correspondence, and to make some other slight changes favourable to the Mussulman religion. When firmly established in his government, Shah Jehan seems to have indemnified himself for his late fatigues and privations, by giving a loose to his passion for magnificent buildings and expensive entertainments. He erected palaces in his principal cities ; and, on the first anniversary of his accession, he had a suite of tents prepared in Cashmir, which, if we are to believe his historian,5 it took two months to pitch. He introduced new forms of lavish expenditure on that occa- sion ; for besides the usual ceremony of being weighed against 1 Khafi Khan. of Jehangir at Lahor. (Khd/i Khan. ) 2 She died in A.D. 164G, A.H. 1055. 3 Khafi Khan. She was treated with respect, and 4 Dawar Shukoh (also called Bo- allowed a stipend of £250,000 a year. laid), who had been set up for king by She wore no colour but white after A'saf Khan, found means to escape Jehangir's death, abstained from all to Persia, where he was afterwards entertainments, and appeared to seen by the Holstein ambassadors in devote her life to the memory of her 1633. (Olearius, Ambassadors1 Tra- husband : she was buried in a tomb vels, p. 190.) she had herself erected, close to that 5 Khafi Khan. X. 2 KHAN JEHAN LODt 563 precious substances, he had vessels filled with jewels waved round his head, or poured over his person (according to the superstition that such offerings would avert misfortunes) ; and all the wealth so devoted was immediately scattered among the bystanders, or given away in presents. The whole expense of the festival, including gifts of money, jewels, rich dresses and arms, elephants and horses, amounted, by the account of the same historian, to £1,600,000 sterling, He was disturbed in these enjoyments by an irruption of the Uzbeks in Cabul : they ravaged the country and besieged the capital, but retired on the approach of a light force, followed up by an army under Mohabat Khan. To this invasion suc- ceeded the revolt of Narsing Deo, the murderer of Abul Fazl. He opposed a long resistance in Bundelcand, before he was brought to submit.6 Mohabat had only reached Sirhind, on his way to Cabul, when the intelligence of the retreat of the Uzbeks was received. He was immediately recalled to the capital, and directed to prepare for a march into the Deckan. Khan Jehan Lodi was an Afghan of low birth, but with all the pride and unruliness of his nation in India. He had held great military charges in the reign of Jehangir, and commanded in the Deckan under Parviz at the time of that prince's death. Being left with undivided authority, he thought it for his advantage, perhaps for that of the state, to make peace with the son of Malik Amber, now at the head of the Nizam Shahi government. He gave up what still remained to the Moguls of Shah Jehan's conquests, and entered into a close intimacy with his late enemies. When Shah Jehan set out to assume the throne, he refused to join him, marched into Malwa, laid siege to Mandu, and seemed to be aiming at independence. He returned to obedi- ence when Shah Jehan's accession was secure ; and it was thought prudent, at first, to confirm him in his government, and afterwards to be content with removing him to that of Malwa, while the Deckan was given to Mohabat Khan. Having co-operated in the reduction of Raja Narsing Deo, he was invited to court, and treated with great attention ; but before he had been long there, he received intimations from some of his friends that the emperor harboured designs against him, and was only waiting an opportunity to find him off his guard. These suggestions, whether true or false, made an impression on his jealous nature. He refused to attend on the king, assembled his troops round the palace he inhabited, and stood prepared to defend himself against any attempt that 8 Khafi Khan. 564 THE DECKAN A.H. 1629, A.H. 1039 might be made on him. Negotiations then took place, and were so successful that all differences appeared to be removed, when some new circumstance excited Khan Jehan's distrust, and decided him to run all risks rather than remain within the power of men on whose faith he could not rely. One night, soon after dark, he assembled all his troops, placed his women in the centre on elephants, and marched openly out of Agra with his kettle-drums beating, at the head of 2,000 veteran Afghans, and accompanied by twelve of his own sons. He was pursued within two hours by a strong body of the royal troops, who overtook him at the river Chambal. He had scarcely time to send his family across the river, when he was obliged to cover their retreat by engaging the very superior force that was in pursuit of him. The severest part of the action was between the Afghans and a body of Rajputs, who dismounted and charged with pikes, according to their national custom. Raja Pirti Sing Rahtor and Khan Jehan were engaged hand-to-hand, and separated with mutual wounds. After a long resistance, Khan Jehan plunged into the stream, and effected his passage with the loss of a few men drowned, besides those he had lost in the action. The royal troops did not, at first, venture to follow him ; and when they had been joined by reinforcements, and were emboldened to renew the pursuit, Khan Jehan had got so much the start of them, that he was able to make his way through Bundelcand into the wild and woody country of Gondwana, from whence he soon opened a communication with his old ally, the king of Ahmed- nagar. The affair now assumed so serious an aspect that Shah Jehan thought it necessary to take the field in person, and moved into the Deckan at the head of a great armament. He halted, himself, at Burhanpur, and sent on three detach- ments, or rather armies,7 into the hostile territory. The three Deckan monarchies had, at this time, recovered their ancient limits, and (except the fort of Ahmednagar, which still held out in disregard of Khan Jehan's cession) the Moguls were reduced to the eastern half of Khandesh and an adjoining portion of Berar. The greatest of the Deckan kingdoms was that of Ahmednagar, which was contiguous to the Mogul territory. Morteza Nizam Shah (th king set up by Malik Amber) was well inclined to act for himself on the death of that minister ; but he would, perhaps, have remained a pageant, if the sons of Malik Amber had possessed talents equal to their father's. The fact was far otherwise ; and Morteza soon displaced and imprisoned Fath Khan, the eldest 7 The native historian estimates them at 50.000 men each. X. 2 FAILURE OF KHAN JEHAN 505 of them, and afterwards conducted the administration himself. He did so with so little ability that his kingdom became a scene of faction, affording every advantage to his foreign enemies.8 Ibrahim A'dil Shah of Bijapur, who died about the same time with Amber, and left his country in a much more pros- perous condition to his son, Mohammed A'dil Shah ; and Abdullah Kutb Shah of Golconda, who was probably aggran- dizing himself at the expense of his Hindu neighbours in Telingana ; took no part in the quarrels of the Mahometan kings. By the time Shah Jehan reached Burhanpur, Khan Jehan had moved from Gondwana into the country under Ahmed- nagar. The Mogul armies, in consequence, marched into that territory, and were assisted by a simultaneous movement from the side of Guzerat. Khan Jehan, after some unavailing attempts, by himself and his allies, to make head against this disproportioned force, retired to the southward, and eluded the Mogul detachments by moving from place to place. At length Azam Khan, the most active of Shah Jehan's officers, by a succession of forced marches, succeeded in surprising him, took his baggage, and forced him to seek shelter by re- tiring among the hills and woods, where the whole of the enemy's force could not be brought to bear on him. He then kept retreating — sometimes checking his pursuers by defending favourable positions, and sometimes escaping from them by long and unexpected marches. In this manner he reached Bijapur. He expected to persuade the king to take his part ; but he found Mohammed A'dil Shah entirely dis- inclined to enter on such a contest, and was obliged once more to return to the territories of the king of Ahmednagar. Morteza Nizam Shah had himself been hard pressed during this interval, and two of the greatest of the Hindu chiefs under him had gone over to the enemy. He had still sufficient confidence to try the effect of a decisive battle. He assembled his army at Doulatabad, and took post in strong ground among the neighbouring passes ; this advantage did not compensate for the superior numbers of his enemies ; he was defeated, and obliged to seek protection in his forts and in desultory warfare. Meanwhile Khan Jehan, overwhelmed by the defeat of his allies, the destruction of their country, and the additional calamities of famine and pestilence with which it was now visited, determined to quit the scene, and to take refuge (as was supposed) with the Afghans near Peshawer, where all the north-eastern tribes were at that time up in arms. If such was his intention, he was unable to accomplish it : after passing 8 Grant Duff. Khdfi Kh&n. 566 FAMINE A.D. 1630, A.H. 1040 the Nerbadda near the frontier of Guzerat, he crossed all Malwa toward Bundelcand, where he hoped to be able to revive the spirit of insurrection ; but the raja of that country turned against him, and cut off his rear-guard, under his long- tried and attached friend Derya Khan ; and, being overtaken by the Moguls, he sent off his wounded, and made a stand with the remains of his force, now reduced to 400 Afghans. His resistance, though long and desperate, was vain : his party was destroyed or dispersed, and he was obliged to fly with a few devoted adherents. He endeavoured to force his way into the hill-fort of Calinjer, was repulsed with the loss of his son, and was at last overtaken at a pool where he had stopped from exhaustion : and after defending himself with his usual gallantry, and receiving many wounds, was struck through with a pike by a Rajput, and his head was sent as a most acceptable present to the Mogul emperor.9 The war with Nizam Shah was not concluded by the re- moval of its original cause. At this time a destructive famine desolated the Deckan. It began from a failure of the periodical rains in A.D. 1629, and was raised to a frightful pitch by a recurrence of the same misfortune in 1630. Thousands of people emigrated, and many perished before they reached more favoured provinces ; vast numbers died at home ; whole districts were depopulated, and some had not recovered at the end of forty years.10 The famine was accompanied by a total failure of forage, and by the death of all the cattle ; and the miseries of the people were completed by a pestilence such as is usually the consequence of the other calamities. In the midst of these horrors, Azam Khan carried on his operations against Morteza Nizam Shah ; and that prince, ascribing all his disasters to the misconduct of his minister, removed him from his office, and conferred it on Fath Khan, son of Malik Amber, whom he released from prison for the purpose. The prospect of the ruin of the Nizam Shah, which now seemed at hand, alarmed Mohammed A'dil Shah, who, though pleased at first with the humiliation of his hereditary enemy, was not insensible of the danger certain to result to himself from the entire subversion of the neighbouring monarchy. He therefore brought a seasonable relief to the weaker party, by declaring war with the Moguls. But his assistance came too late to preserve Morteza Nizam Shah from the consequences of his own imprudence. Fath Khan, more mindful of former injuries than recent favours, and ambitious of recovering the authority once possessed by his father, applied all the power 9 Grant Duff, Khdfi Khan, w Khafi Khan, X. 2 FATH KHAN 567 which had been confided to him to the destruction of the donor ; and, aided by the weakness and unpopularity of Morteza himself, was soon strong enough to put that prince and his chief adherents to death, and to take the government into his own hands. At the same time, he sent to offer sub- mission and a large contribution to the Moguls, and placed an infant on the throne, with an open profession that he was to hold his dignity in subordination to Shah Jehan. His terms were immediately accepted, and Shah Jehan turned his whole force against Bijapur. Fath Khan, however, evaded the fulfilment of his promises, was again attacked by the Moguls, and once more joined his cause with that of A'dil Shah. He was afterwards reconciled to the Moguls ; and various similar changes took place in the progress of the war, from his perfidious and shifting policy. During one of those vicissitudes, the king of Bijapur was borne down by the superior force of his enemies, and was constrained to take refuge in his capital, where he was besieged by a great army under the command of A'saf Khan. In this desperate situation, he must have shared the fate of his former rival, if he had not found resources in his own abilities and address. While he used every exertion to defend his town, and to harass the assailants, he amused A'saf Khan, and de- layed his operations by a variety of well-contrived artifices : sometimes he entered on negotiations himself, and held out hopes of his immediately yielding to Shah Jehan's demands, without the risk of further hostilities ; at other times, he engaged A'saf Khan in intrigues with chieftains who pretended to make bargains for their defection ; and sometimes led him into disasters by feigned offers from individuals to desert their posts when attacked, or to admit his troops by night into parts of the fortifications intrusted to their charge. During all this time, disease and famine were playing their parts in the camp of A'saf Khan ; and he at last found himself under the necessity of raising the siege, and revenged himself by cruelly ravaging the unexhausted parts of the kingdom.11 It was about the time of this failure, that Shah Jehan returned to his capital, leaving Mohabat Khan in the supreme government of the Deckan.12 The operations caried on under that general led, at length, to Fath Khan's being shut up in the fort of Doulatabad, where he defended himself, with occasional assistance from the king of Bijapur ; and the fate of the Niz&m Shahi monarchy seemed to rest on the result of the struggle. It was decided by a general action, in which the combined force of the Deckanis was defeated in an attempt 11 Grant Duff, Khafi Khan. 12 Khafi Khan 568 ATTEMPT ON BIJAPUR A.D. 1634, A.H. 1044 bo raise the siege ; and Fath Khan soon after surrendered and entered into the Mogul service, while the king whom he had set up was sent off a prisoner to Gwalior.13 The king of Bijapur, being now left alone, made overtures of negotiation, which were not favourably received ; he then continued to defend himself, and all the efforts of Mohabat Khan were ineffectual to subdue him. An important point of the war was the siege of Perinda, on his failure in which Mohabat Khan was obliged to fall back on Burhanpur, and desist from aggressive operations.14 He had before been put under the nominal command of the emperor's second son, Shuja, who was a boy ; and he was now recalled to court, and the Deckan was divided into two commands, under Khani Dour an and Khani Zeman. These officers were less successful than their predecessors. Mohammed A'dil Shah continued to hold out ; and the Nizam Shahi monarchy, which seemed to have come to an end on the surrender of Fath Khan, was revived by a chief whose family were afterwards to act an important part as the founders of the Maratta nation. This was Shahji Bosla, who had risen to considerable rank in the time of Malik Amber, and had distinguished himself as a partisan during the late wars. After the fall of Doulatabad, he drew off to the rugged country in the west of the Deckan ; and, some time after, was so strong as to set up a new pretender to the throne of Ahmednagar, and, in time, to get possession of all the districts of that kingdom from the sea to the capital.15 The Deckan, therefore, was as far as ever from being sub- dued ; and Shah Jehan perceived the necessity of returning in person to that country, to make another effort to reduce it. He marched from Agra towards the end of 1635,16 and, on arriving in the Deckan, he adopted his former plan of breaking his army into divisions ; and sent them, in the first instance, to recover the kingdom of Ahmednagar. When they had driven Shahji from the open country, and reduced many of his principal forts, Shah Jehan turned his whole force on Bijapur, took several strong places, and constrained Mohammed A'dil Shah once more to shut himself up in his capital. The talents which had delivered him during the former siege did not desert him on this occasion. He laid waste the country for twenty miles round Bijapur, destroying every particle of food or forage ; filled up the wells, drained off the reservoirs, 13 Grant Duff. those of Khafi Khan at this period. 14 Grant Duff. There is a consider- 15 Grant Duff. Khafi Khan, able difference between his dates and 16 Khafi Khan. X. 2 ACQUISITION OF CANDAHAR 569 and rendered it impossible for any army to support itself during an attack on the city. The Moguls were therefore reduced to the plunder of his territories, and met with frequent losses from the spirit and activity of his detachments. Both parties, ere long, were wearied with this sort of warfare ; and, A'dil Shah making the first overture, peace was concluded, on terms much more favourable than he could have expected. He consented to an annual payment of £200,000 a year to Shah Jehan ; but he was to receive, in return, a share of the Nizam Shahi dominions, which much extended his territory on the north and east. Shahji held out for some time longer : at length he also submitted, gave up his pretended king, and entered into the service of the king of Bijapur, with the consent of Shah Jehan. At an early period of this invasion, Shah Jehan had over- awed the king of Golconda, and had forced him to desist from reciting the name of the king of Persia in the public prayers, and to agree to pay a regular tribute.17 These transactions being concluded, Shah Jehan returned to his capital, and the kingdom of Ahmednagar was at length extinguished for ever. While Shah Jehan' s attention was principally engaged with the Deckan, some events of less moment were taking place in other quarters. The Portuguese fort of Hugli, not far from Calcutta, was taken, after a siege, by the governor of Bengal (1631). There were revolts of the Bundelas, in the first of which the son of Narsing Deo was killed. One portion of the troops on the eastern frontier completed the settlement of Little Tibet (1634 and 1636) ; another was defeated, and almost destroyed, in an attempt to conquer Sirinagar (1634) ; and a third, which invaded the petty state of Cuch Behar from Bengal, was compelled, by the unhealthiness of the climate, to relinquish the country after they were in possession (1637). The most important occurrence of these times was the acquisition of Candahar, the governor of which, Ali Merdan Khan, found himself exposed to so much danger from the tyranny of his sovereign, the king of Persia, that he gave up the place to Shah Jehan, and himself took refuge at Delhi. He was received with great honour, and was afterwards, at different times, made governor of Cashmir and Cabul, and employed on various wars and other duties. He excited universal admiration at the court by the skill and judgment of his public works, of which the canal which bears his name Grant Duff. Khafi Khan. 570 AURANGZIB A.D. 1644, A.H. 1054 at Delhi still affords a proof, and by the taste and elegance he displayed on all occasions of show and festivity. His military talents were first tried in an invasion of Balkh and Badakhshan. Those provinces had remained in the hands of the Uzbeks since they were lost by Mirza Soleiman, and were now held by Nazar Mohammed, the younger brother of Imam Kuli, sovereign of all the territory beyond the Oxus, from the Caspian Sea to Mount Imaus. The revolt of Nazar Mohammed's son, Abdul Aziz, en- couraged by his powerful uncle, tempted Shah Jehan, who had enjoyed several years of repose, to assert the dormant rights of his family. All Merdan penetrated the range of Hindu Gush, and ravaged Badakhshan : but the advance of the winter, and the fear of being cut off from the southern countries, compelled him to retreat without having gained any solid advantage. Next year the enterprise was attempted by Raja Jagat Sing,18 whose chief strength lay in a body of 14,000 Rajputs, raised in his own country, but paid by the emperor. The spirit of the Rajputs never shone more brilliantly than in this unusual duty ; they stormed mountain-passes, made forced marches over snow, constructed redoubts by their own labour (the raja himself taking an axe like the rest), and bore up against the tempests of that frozen region as firmly as against the fierce and repeated attacks of the Uzbeks. But, with all these exertions, the enterprise now appeared so arduous that Shah Jehan himself resolved to move to Cabul, and to send on his son, Prince Morad, under the guidance of All Merdan Khan, with a large army, into Balkh.19 This expedition was completely successful : Morad was joined by some of Nazar Mohammed's sons, and afterwards received the submission of that chief ; but, just as he had taken possession of the capital, a new rupture took place (with some suspicion of bad faith on the part of the Moguls). Nazar Mohammed, now divested of his defensible places, was obliged to fly to Persia ; and his dominions were annexed, by proclamation, to those of Shah Jehan. But this conquest was not long left undisturbed : Abdul Aziz collected a force beyond the Oxus, and sent numerous bands of plunderers to lay waste the newly conquered territory. Shah Jehan had, by this time, returned to Delhi ; and Morad, tired of the service, and impatient of the control of Ali Merdan, had left his province without leave, and was sent away from court in disgrace. The charge of restoring order was therefore imposed on Prince Aurangzib, while the king himself again repaired to Cabul to support him. 18 Probably the raja of C6ta. « Khafi Khan says 50,000 cavalry and 10,000 foot, X. 2 CANDAHAR TAKEN BY PERSIANS 571 Aurangzib at first obtained a great victory over the Uzbeks : its effects, however, were by no means decisive ; for Abdul Aziz crossed the Oxus in person, and so harassed the Moguls, that Aurangzib, after some partial successes, was obliged to seek protection from the walls of Balkh itself. About this time Nazar Mohammed, having failed to obtain aid in Persia, threw himself on the clemency of Shah Jehan ; and the latter prince, perceiving how little his prospects were advanced by such an expenditure of blood and treasure, came to the prudent resolution of withdrawing from the contest ; and, that he might do so with the less humiliation, he trans- ferred his rights to Nazar Mohammed, then a suppliant at his court. Aurangzib was accordingly directed to make over the places that remained in his possession ; and he began his retreat from Balkh, under continual attacks from the Uzbeks of Abdul Aziz's party. When he reached the passes of Hindu Gush, the persecution was taken up, for the sake of plunder, by the mountaineers of the Hazareh tribes, and, to complete his misfortunes, the winter set in with violence ; and though the prince himself reached Cabul with a light detachment, yet the main body of his army was intercepted by the snow, and suffered so much in this helpless condition, from the un- remitting assaults of the Hazarehs, that they were glad to escape in separate bodies, with the loss of all their baggage and almost all their horses.20 The tranquillity purchased by the relinquishment of Balkh was first disturbed by an attack on Candahar by the Persians. During the weak and tyrannical reign of Shah Safi, and the minority of his son, Shah Abbas II., the Moguls had been allowed to enjoy the fruits of All Merdan's desertion unmo- lested ; but as Abbas advanced towards manhood, his ministers induced him to assert the dignity of his monarchy, by restoring it to its ancient limits. He assembled a large army, and marched against Candahar. He showed much judgment in beginning the siege in winter, when the communication between India and Cabul was cut off by the snow, while his own opera- tions went on unobstructed in the mild climate of Candahar. The consequence was, that although Aurangzib and the vazir, Saad Ullah Khan, were ordered off in all haste from the Panjab, and although they made their way with great exertions through the mountains, they arrived too late to save Candahar, which had been taken after a siege of two months and a half. The exhausted condition of the army after their winter march compelled Aurangzib and Saad Ullah to halt and refit at Cdbul ; 2° KhAfi 572 DARA SHUKOH A.D. 1649, A.H. 1059 while the king of Persia withdrew to Herat, leaving a strong garrison in Candahar.21 The Indian army came before that city in May, 1649. They immediately opened their batteries, and the contest was actively conducted on both sides, with springing of mines, assaults by the besiegers, and sallies by the garrison. These operations were not interrupted by the approach of an army sent by Shah Abbas to raise the siege. Aurangzib was con- tented with sending a detachment to oppose the attack, and remained, himself, in his lines before the city. The force he had employed was sufficient to repel the Persians, but it could not prevent their destroying the forage and cutting off the supplies of the besiegers ; and as the governor defended his town with as much skill as obstinacy, Aurangzib was at length constrained to raise the siege, and commence his retreat to Cabul, above four months after he had opened his batteries.22 Shah Jehan, who had followed Aurangzib to Cabul, marched from that city before the prince's return, and was not overtaken by him until he had reached Lahor. The next year passed in inaction, to which the king's usual visit to Cashmir forms no exception. The time he spent in that delicious retirement was devoted to feasts and dances, to gardens, excursions by land and water, and other pleasures congenial to the climate and scenery. In the year next succeeding, Aurangzib and the vazir, Saad Ullah, were again despatched to Candahar, with a numerous and well-equipped army, and ample provisions of tools and workmen to conduct all the operations of a siege.83 These great preparations were as unavailing as before ; and Aurangzib, after exhausting every resource supplied by the skill and courage of Saad Ullah and the bravery of the Rajputs, was compelled to return to Cabul, and was sent to be viceroy of the Deckan. Shah Jehan was not discouraged by his repeated failures, and next year prepared for a still greater effort than had yet been put forth. His eldest son, Dara Shukoh, though treated as superior in station to the rest, was kept at court, and looked with envy on the opportunities of distinction enjoyed by his brothers, especially Aurangzib, of whom he seems to have entertained a sort of instinctive jealousy. Urged by these feelings, he entreated Shah Jehan to allow him to try his skill and fortune 21 Khafi Khan. purpose for a siege, there were only 22 Ibid. eight battering guns and twenty 23 It is worthy of remark, that, smaller pieces of ordnance, with so great a force assembled on X. 2 SIEGE OF CANDAHAR RAISED 573 at the siege of Candahar, and was put at the head of an army much exceeding that formerly employed. It assembled at Lahor in the winter of 1652, and commenced its march in the spring of the next year, Shah Jehan himself following, as usual, to Cabul. Dara opened his trenches, as Aurangzib had done before him, on a day and hour fixed by the astrologers, and ordered by the emperor before the army set out on its march. He began the siege on a scale proportioned to his armament. He mounted a battery of ten guns on a high and solid mound of earth, raised for the purpose of enabling him to command the town ; and he pushed his operations with his characteristic impetuosity, increased, in this instance, by rivalry with his brother. He assembled his chiefs, and besought them to support his honour, declaring his intention never to quit the place till it was taken ; he urged on the mines, directed the approaches, and, the besieged having brought their guns to bear on his own tent, he maintained his position until their fire could be silenced by that of his artillery. But, after the failure of several attempts to storm, and the disappointment of near prospects of success, his mind appears to have given way to the dread of defeat and humiliation : he entreated his officers not to reduce him to a level with the twice-beaten Aurangzib ; and he had recourse to magicians and other impos- tors, who promised to put him in possession of the place by supernatural means. Such expedients portended an unfavour- able issue ; and accordingly, after a last desperate assault, which commenced before daybreak, and in which his troops had at one time gained the summit of the rampart, he was compelled to renounce all hope, and to raise the siege, after having lost the flower of his army in the prosecution of it. He was harassed on his retreat both by the Persians and Afghans ; and it was not without additional losses that he made his way to Cabul, whence he pursued his march to Lahor. Thus terminated the last attempt of the Moguls to recover Candahar, of which they had held but a precarious possession from the first conquest of it by Baber. It was followed by nearly two years of undisturbed tran- quillity. During that time, Shah Jehan, having completed a revenue survey of his possessions in the Deckan, which is said to have occupied him for nearly twenty years,24 gave orders for the adoption of the system of assessment and collection introduced by Todar Mai.25 The same period is marked by the death of the vazir, Saad 24 Grant Duff's History of the Marattas, vol. i. p. 126. * Khafi Khan- 574 MIR JUMLA Ullah Khan, the most able and upright minister that ever appeared in India. He makes a conspicuous figure in all the transactions of Shah Jehan, and is constantly referred to as a model in the correspondence of Aurangzib during the long reign of that monarch. Khafi Khan says that his descendants, in his time, were still distinguished for their virtues and in- telligence, near a century after the death of their ancestor ; and contrasts the respectability of their conduct with the effeminacy and frivolity of the other nobles of that era. The next year was destined to put an end to this state of repose, and to light up a conflagration which was never effectu- ally suppressed, and was not extinguished until it had consumed the empire. Since the last pacification, Abdullah Kutb Shah had paid his tribute regularly, and had shown a desire to secure the favour of Shah Jehan, who, but for a particular concurrence of circumstances, would probably never have wished to molest him. The prime minister of Abdullah was a person named Mir Jumla. He had formerly been a diamond merchant, and had been known and respected throughout the Deckan for his wealth and abilities long before he attained his present high station. His son, Mohammed Amin, a dissolute and violent young man, had drawn on himself the resentment of Abdullah Kutb Shah, and had involved his father in a dispute with the court. Mir Jumla was absent, in command of an army in the eastern part of the kingdom of Golconda ; and, finding himself unable to obtain such concessions as he desired from his own sovereign, determined to throw himself on the pro- tection of the Mogul. He applied to Aurangzib, to whom, as well as to the emperor, he was already known. Such an opportunity of interference afforded an irresistible temptation to a man of Aurangzib 's intriguing disposition, and he strongly recommended the case of Mir Jumla to his father's favour. Shah Jehan, influenced by this advice, despatched a haughty mandate to Abdullah Shah to redress the complaints of his minister ; but Abdullah was further irritated by this encroach- ment on his independence, and committed Amin to prison, while he sequestrated the property of Mir Jumla. Shah Jehan, now provoked in his turn, sent orders to his son to carry his demands into effect by force of arms ; and Aurangzib, who had been waiting impatiently for this result, entered with alacrity on the duty, and executed it in a manner entirely suitable to his wily nature. Without any further manifestation of hostility, he sent out a chosen force, under pretence of escorting his son, Sultan X. 2 AURANGZIB IN GOLCONDA 575 Mohammed, to Bengal, for the purpose of celebrating his nuptials with the daughter of his own brother, Prince Shuja, who was viceroy of that province. The road from Aurangabad to Bengal made a circuit by Masulipatam, so as to avoid the forests of Gondwana, and thus naturally brought the prince within a short distance of Heiderabad, the capital of Golconda. Abdullah Shah was preparing an entertainment for his recep- tion, when he suddenly advanced as an enemy, and took the king so completely by surprise that he had only time to fly to the hill-fort of Golconda, six or eight miles from the city ; while Heiderabad fell into the hands of the Moguls, and was plundered and half burned before the troops could be brought into order. Aurangzib had, before this, found a pretence for assembling an army on the nearest point of his province ; and, being joined by fresh troops from Malwa, he had ample means of sending on reinforcements to Golconda. Mir Jumla also in time drew near and was ready to turn his master's arms against himself. Abdullah Shah, on his first flight to the hill-fort, had released Mohammed Amin, and given up the sequestrated property ; and he did all in his power to negotiate a reasonable accommodation, while at the same time he spared no effort to procure aid from Bijapur. No aid came, and the Moguls were inexorable ; and, after several attempts to raise the siege by force, he was at last under the necessity of accepting the severe terms imposed on him : to agree to give his daughter in marriage to Sultan Mohammed, with a dowry in territory and money ; to pay a crore of rupees (£1,000,000 sterling) as the first instalment of a yearly tribute ; and promised to make up the arrears of past payments within two years. Shah Jehan would have been content with easier terms, and did, in fact, make a great remission in the pecuniary part of those agreed on ; but the rest were executed, and the Mogul prince returned to Aurangabad. Mir Jumla remained in the Mogul service, became the chosen counsellor of Aurangzib, and was afterwards one of the most useful instruments of his ambitious designs. Aurangzib had scarcely reaped the fruits of his success in Golconda before an opportunity was afforded him of gaining similar advantages over the neighbouring kingdom. The peace with Bijapur had remained unbroken since the last treaty. Mohammed A'dil Shah had successfully cultivated the friend- ship of Shah Jehan, but had excited the personal enmity of Aurangzib by a close connexion with Dara Shukoh. On his death, which took place in November, 1656,26 he was succeeded 26 Grant Duff. It corresponds to Moharram 1067. 576 SHAH JEHAN ILL A.D. 1657, A.H. 1067 by his son All, a youth of nineteen ; and Shah Jehan was tempted, by the persuasion of his younger son, to deny that the minor was the real issue of the late king, and to assert his own right to decide on the succession to his tributary. Though the force of the kingdom of Bijapur was still undiminished, it was in no state of preparation for war ; and a large portion of its army was employed at a distance, in wars with the Hindu petty princes of Carnata. Aurangzib, therefore, met with little difficulty in his invasion of the territory ; and a fortunate accident having thrown the strong frontier fort of Bidar into his hands, he advanced without further obstruction to the capital.27 The suddenness of the attack had prevented the mode of defence, by destroying the country, so successfully practised on former occasions. No resource, therefore, was left to the new king but to sue for peace on the most unfavour- able terms.28 Even those were peremptorily rejected by Aurangzib ; and he would probably, ere long, have obtained possession both of the capital and the country, if he had not been called off by a matter that touched him more nearly than the conquest of any foreign kingdom.29 CHAPTER III FROM 1657 TO THE DEPOSAL OF SHAH JEHAN Dangerous illness of the emperor — Characters and pretensions of his sons — Dara Shukoh — Shuja — Aurangzib — Morad — Daughters of Shah Jehan — Dara administers the government under the emperor, October, A.D. 1657 ; Zi Haj 7, A.H. 1067 — Rebellion of Shuja — And of Morad — Cautious measures of Aurangzib — His collusion with Mir Jumla — He marches to join Morad — Defensive measures of Dara — Shah Jehan reassumes 'the government, November, A.D. 1657 ; Rabi ul awwal 4, A.H. 1068 — Shuja continues to advance on Agra — Is defeated by Soleiman, son of Dara, and returns to Bengal — Aurangzib and Morad defeat the imperial army under Jeswant Sing at Ujein — Shah Jehan' s anxiety for an accommodation — Dara marches from Agra to oppose his brothers, against the wish of Shah Jehan — Is totally de- feated, beginning of June, A.D. 1658 — Dara flies to Delhi — Aurangzib enters Agra, June, A.D. 1658 ; Ramazan 10, A.H. 1068 — Shah Jehan adheres to the cause of Dara — Is confined in his palace, Ramazan 17 — Aurangzib imprisons Morad, and openly assumes the government — High prosperity of India under Shah Jehan — Magnificence of Shah Jehan — His buildings — The Taj Mahal — His economy — His personal character. THE emperor had been seized with an illness of so serious a nature, that it not only threatened an immediate transfer 27 P t Duff 29 [" Aurangzib 's first step was now 28 [" He offered to pay down one to accept Ali Adil Shah's overtures, crore of rupees, and to make any from whom he gained a considerable sacrifice demanded." (Duff.) — ED.] supply of ready money; and he X. 3 THE EMPEROR'S SONS 577 of the crown to Dara Shukoh, but invested him at the moment with the administration of his father's government. This state of affairs, involving all Aurangzib's prospects of aggran- dizement, and even of safety, turned his exertions towards the seat of the monarchy, and for a long time withdrew his attention from the affairs of the Deckan. Shah Jehan had four sons, all of an age to render them impatient of a subordinate station. Dara Shukoh was in his forty-second year, Shuja was forty, and Aurangzib thirty- eight. Even Morad, the youngest, had long been employed in great commands.1 Dara Shukoh was a frank and high- spirited prince, dignified in his manners, generous in his expense, liberal in his opinions, open in his enmities ; but impetuous, impatient of opposition, and despising the ordinary rules of prudence as signs of weakness and artifice. His overbearing temper made him many enemies, while his habitual indiscretion lessened the number as well as the confidence of his adherents. Shuja was not destitute of abilities, but given up to wine and pleasure. Aurangzib was a perfect contrast to Dara Shukoh. He was a man of a mild temper and a cold heart ; cautious, artful, designing ; a perfect master of dissimulation ; acute and sagacious, though not extended in his views, and ever on the watch to gain friends and to propitiate enemies. To these less brilliant qualities he joined great courage and skill in military exercises, a handsome though not athletic form, affable and gracious manners, and lively agreeable conversation. He was so great a dissembler in other matters, that he has been supposed a hypocrite in religion. But, although religion was a great instrument of his policy, he was, beyond doubt, a sincere and bigoted Mussulman. He had been brought up by men of known sanctity, and had himself shown an early turn for devotion : he at one time professed an intention of renouncing the world, and taking the habit of a fakir ; and throughout his whole life he evinced a real attachment to his faith, in many things indifferent to his interest, and in some most seriously opposed to it. His zeal was shown in prayers and reading the Koran, in pious discourses, in abstemiousness (which he affected to carry so far as to subsist on the earnings of his manual labour), in humility of deportment, patience under provocation, and resignation in misfortunes ; but above all, in constant and earnest endeavours to promote his own faith and to discourage idolatry and infidelity. But neither religion nor morality stood for a moment in his way concluded a treaty, by which he re- his mareli towards the Nerbadda." linquished the advantages he had (Duff.) — ED.] gained, and in a tew days he was on l (Jladwin's History of Jehdngir. P P 578 SHAH JEHAN'S DAUGHTERS when they interfered with his ambition ; and, though full of scruples at other times, he would stick at no crime that was requisite for the gratification of that passion. His political use of religion arose from a correct view of the feelings of the time. Akber's innovations had shocked most Mahometans, who, besides the usual dislike of the vulgar to toleration, felt that a direct attack was made on their own faith. Jehangir's restoration of the old ritual was too cold to give full satisfaction ; and though Shah Jehan was a more zealous Mussulman, Dara openly professed the tenets of Akber, and had written a book to reconcile the Hindu and Mahometan doctrines.2 No topic, therefore, could be selected more likely to make that prince unpopular than his infidelity, and in no light could the really religious Aurangzib be so favourably opposed to him as in that of the champion of Islam. In this character he had also an advantage over Shuja, who was looked on with aversion by the orthodox Mahometans, from his attachment to the Persian sect of the Shias. Morad was brave and generous, but dull in intellect, and vulgar in his pursuits. He was abundantly presumptuous and self-willed ; but his object never was more exalted than the indulgence of his humours, and the enjoyment of sensual pleasures.3 Shah Jehan had, by the same mother as his sons,4 two daughters. To the elder, Padshah Begam, he was devotedly attached. She was endowed with beauty and talents, and was a great support to the interest of Dara Shukoh. Roushanara,* the second daughter, had fewer personal attrac- tions, and less influence ; but her talent for intrigue, and her knowledge of the secrets of the harem, enabled her to be of the greatest assistance to her favourite brother, Aurangzib. 2 [Some time before this Dara had brought some Pandits from Benares to Delhi, and employed them in making a Persian translation of fifty Upanishads ; the work professes to have been finished in Ramazan, A.H. 1067 (A.D. 1657). It was this book which Anquetil Duperron translated into Latin in 1801, under the title of Oupnekhat. See also the account of the Nadir un nikdt, or seven days' dialogue between the Prince and Baba Lai, in Wilson's Hindu Sects. (Collected Works, vol. i. p. 348.) — ED.] 3 The characters of the princes are taken from Bernier, modified by the facts in Khafi Khan, and by some passages in Aurangzib's letters. The following is given by that monarch as Shah Jeh an' s opinion of his four sons. Dara (he said) had talents for com- mand, and the dignity becoming the royal office, but was intolerant to all who had any pretensions to emi- nence ; whence he was " bad to the good, and good to the bad." Shuja was a mere drunkard, and Morad a glutton and a sensualist. Aurangzib excelled both in action and counsel, was well fitted to undertake the bur- den of public affairs, but full of subtle suspicions, and never likely to find any one whom he could trust. (Letter from Aurangzib tof his son, in the " Dastur ul Amal Agdhi.") 4 Glad win's History of Jehdngir. * [Or, rather, Roshan-rai. — ED.] X. 3 ACTION OF THE SONS 579 It was from this princess that Aurangzib obtained the intelligence on which he now acted. Though Shah Jehan had only attained his sixty-seventh year, the habits of indolence and pleasure in which he had indulged seem to have latterly diminished his attention to business, and allowed a greater share of influence to Dara Shukoh, on whom, as heir-apparent, he devolved such of his duties as he did not himself perform. Things were in this state when the emperor was seized with a sudden disorder in his kidneys, together with a suppression of urine, which entirely incapacitated him from business, and soon brought him to the brink of the grave.5 During this crisis Dara stopped all correspondence, and detained all travellers likely to spread the news of the king's danger through- out the provinces. He could not, however, long elude the vigilance of his brothers. Aurangzib, in particular, was minutely informed of all his proceedings during the whole of the struggle which followed. The first to act on the emergency was Prince Shuja, the viceroy of Bengal. He assembled the troops of his province, and immediately marched into Behar, on his way to the capital. Prince Morad, viceroy of Guzerat, soon followed his example : he seized on all the money in the district treasuries, and laid siege to Surat, where there was a governor independent of his authority, and where he thought there was a considerable sum in deposit. Aurangzib conducted himself with more caution. He did not assume the royal title, as Shuja and Morad had done ; and although he instantly moved to his northern frontier, and urged on the preparation of his army, he made no open declaration till orders came from Dara, in the emperor's name, to direct Mir Jumla and the other military commanders to quit his standard. Mir Jumla, after he joined the Moguls, had been summoned to the capital, and had for a time been entrusted with the highest offices in the state. He had after- wards been sent back to the Deckan ; but his family was still at Agra, and the fear of the consequences to them made him hesitate to oppose an order of the emperor. But his embarrassment was removed by a stratagem suggested by Aurangzib. According to a concerted plan, he sent for Mir Jumla to his court ; and when that commander, after some affected delays and alarms, presented himself, he ordered him to be made prisoner in the fort of Doulatabad ; while his principal officers, secretly influenced by their commander, continued to serve 5 Khafi Khan. 580 INTRIGUES A.D. 1657, A.H. 1068 . with Aurangzib. Even when he had thrown off the mask, he still proceeded with his usual policy. He left Dara and Shuja to weaken each other for his profit, and applied all his art to gain Morad, whom he might hope to render an instrument in his own hands. He wrote to him with the most vehement profession of attachment, congratulating him on his accession to the crown, and declaring his own intention of renouncing the world, and indulging his love of devotion in retirement at Mecca. He nevertheless offered his zealous services against the irreligious Dara, and advised that, as their father was still alive, they should present themselves before him, when, if received with favour, they should secure him from undue influence, while they interceded for the pardon of their erring brother ; meanwhile they should unite their forces, and proceed to engage the infidel Jeswant Sing, who, it was under- stood, had been sent against them.6 It seems incredible that Morad should have been deceived by so improbable a profession, but the coarseness of the artifice was disguised by the masterly execution ; and the assiduous flatteries of Aurangzib found a willing auditor in his brother, naturally unsuspicious, and dazzled by the prospect of assistance so necessary to the support of his feeble cause. Before this period Dara had taken measures to resist the threatened attacks of his rivals. He sent Raja Jeswant Sing into Malwa to watch Morad and Aurangzib, and to act against them, with his whole army, or by dividing it, as circumstances might suggest. At the same time he himself advanced to Agra, and despatched an army, under the com- mand of his own son, Soleiman Shukoh, assisted by Raja Jei Sing, to oppose the approach of Shuja. By this time Shah Jehan was sufficiently recovered to resume the general control of the government ; but his confidence in Dara was only increased by the misconduct of the other princes. He wrote to Shuja commanding him in positive terms to return to his government. Shuja pretended to consider these orders as dictated by Dara Shukoh, and probably still looked on the emperor's recovery as doubtful. He continued to move on until he met Soleiman Shukoh in the neighbourhood of Benares. A battle then took place, and Shuja, though his army was not dispersed, wras defeated, and compelled to return into Bengal. Meanwhile Aurangzib quitted Burhanpur 7 and marched into Malwa. He there formed a junction with Morad ; and the combined armies marched to attack Raja Jeswant Sing, who was encamped near Ujein. The raja drew up his army 9 Khafi Khan. 7 Ibid. X. 3 VICTORY OF AURANGZIB 581 on the bank of the river Sipra, which at that season was nearly dry, but still presented a formidable obstruction from the rocky nature of its bed. The battle was bravely contested by the Rajputs, who were ill-supported by the rest of the troops. It was chiefly decided by the gallantry of Morad. Jeswant Sing retired in disorder to his own country, and the rest of the army dis- persed.8 On rewarding his chiefs after this battle, Aurangzib sent them all to return their thanks to Morad, as if he alone were the fountain of all honour. On the first junction he had taken an oath to adhere to that prince, and renewed all his promises with every appearance of warmth and sincerity ; and throughout the whole campaign, although his abilities gave him the real control of all operations, he continued his professions of devotion and humility — always acknowledging Morad as his superior, and treating him on all occasions with the utmost respect and attention.9 After this victory the princes advanced by slow marches to the Chambal, near Gwalior.10 Some dispositions made by Dara Shukoh for the defence of that river were rendered ineffectual by the manoeu- vres of Aurangzib, and the army crossed without opposition. Before Jeswant Sing's defeat, Shah Jehan, unable to bear the heat of the season, had set out on his way to Delhi. The news of that misfortune recalled him, much against his will, to Agra. He found that during his absence Dara had thrown Amin, the son of Mir Jumla, into confinement ; but, as he disapproved of the proceeding, it was immediately counter- manded by the prince himself. Shah Jehan at this time, notwithstanding his feeble health, had ordered his tents to be prepared, and intended to take the field in person. His hope was, that he should be able to bring about an adjustment by his presence and authority, and to avoid a war which could not but bring many dangers and calamities on himself and all the parties engaged. He was dissuaded from this resolution by his brother-in-law, Shayista Khan. If it had been pursued, it would have had no effect on the princes, whatever it might on the armies ; for all were now too far engaged to recede, or to trust their future safety to anything so precarious as the life of Shah Jehan. Dara likewise looked with an ill eye on an accommodation that must have removed him from almost unlimited power, and restored the administration to its ordinary train under the immediate control of the emperor. 3 Khafi Khan. Bernier. Bernier, commanded along with Jeswant Sing, who soon after joined the emperor's of disaffection, army, accuses Kasim Khan, who 9 Khafi Khan. Bernier. 10 Khafi Kh.-'m. 582 FURIOUS FIGHTING A.D. 1658, A.H. 1068 Urged on by this consideration, and confident in his superior numbers, he refused even to wait for Soleiman, then on his march from Benares with the most efficient part of the army. Contrary to the earnest injunctions of Shah Jehan, he marched out at the head of an army which seemed irresistible from its numbers and equipment, but was rendered weak, in reality, by the arrogance of the commander, the disaffection of the chiefs, and the absence of the flower of the fighting men.11 On the 6th of Ramazan, A.H. 1068, the two armies ap- proached each other at Samaghar, one march from Agra : they drew up face to face on the next day, but did not join battle until the succeeding morning. The action began by a charge of a body of Dara's cavalry, under Rustam Khan. It was unable to penetrate a row of guns chained together in front of Aurangzib's line. A second and more powerful charge, headed by Dara himself, was equally unsuccessful ; but his attack was renewed, and kept up without intermission on the centre, where Aurangzib was stationed. In the meantime Morad was attacked by 3,000 Uzbeks, who poured in flights of arrows on him, with such rapidity that it was with difficulty he could bear up against them. His ele- phant gave way before the storm, and would have run off the field, if Morad had not ordered its feet to be chained — thus cutting off the power of retreat for himself. This sharp contest with the Uzbeks was succeeded by a much more formidable attack. A large body of Rajputs rushed on the prince with an impetuosity that nothing could resist. Ram Sing, their raja, in a saffron robe, and with a chaplet of pearls on his head, ran up to Morad's elephant, and hurled his pike at the prince, while he shouted to the driver to make the elephant kneel down. Morad received the pike on his shield, and nearly at the same moment laid the raja dead with an arrow.12 His death only exasperated the Rajputs, who fought with desperate fury, and fell in heaps round the prince's elephant. At this time Aurangzib was about to move to his brother's assistance, but he had soon full employment where he was ; for Dara, having at length broken though the line of guns, charged his centre at full speed, and carried all before him, by the united force of velocity and numbers. 11 Khafi Khan says the army con- He reckons Aurangzib's and Morad's sisted at Agra of upwards of 70,000 army at 30,000 or 35,000 horse, horse, with innumerable elephants 12 Khafi Khan. Bernier. Colonel and guns. Bernier, though generally Tod (vol. ii. p. 481) ascribes this distrustful of native numbers, thinks attack to Raja Chitar Sal of Bundi, it may have been 100,000 horse, who was a distinguished commander 20,000 foot, and 80 pieces of artillery. in the reign of Shah Jehan, and was likewise killed in this battle. X. 3 VICTORY OF AURANGZIB 583 Aurangzib alone remained unshaken : he presented his elephant wherever there was the greatest danger, and called aloud to his troops that " God was with them, and that they had no other refuge or retreat." 13 In the height of this contest Raja Rup Sing leaped from his horse, and running up to Aurangzib 's elephant, began to cut away the girths with his sword. Aurangzib was struck with his audacity, and even in that moment of alarm called out to his men to spare him ; but before his voice could be heard the raja had fallen, almost cut to pieces. At this critical juncture Morad, having at length repelled the Rajputs, was able to turn his attention to the centre ; and Dara, who found his right thereby exposed, was obliged to abate the vigour of his front attack. His numbers, however, might in the end have prevailed ; but as he was pressing forward on his elephant, conspicuous to all his troops, whom he was encouraging by his voice, and by waving his hand to them to advance, a rocket from the enemy struck the elephant, and rendered it so ungovernable that Dara had no choice but to throw himself from its back, and to mount a horse with all expedition. His disappearance struck a sudden alarm among the distant troops ; and an attendant being carried off by a shot at his side, while fastening on his quiver after he mounted, those immediately round him were also thrown into confusion : the panic spread, and its effects were soon felt throughout the whole army. The death of an Asiatic leader is often the loss of the battle : in a civil war it is the annihilation of the cause. Success seemed now useless, and every man's thoughts were turned to safety. Even the part of the line which was not engaged began to waver, while the princes pressed forward amidst the disorder of the centre, and compelled the troops opposed to them, and even Dara himself, to take flight. The victory was no sooner decided than Aurangzib threw himself on his knees, and returned his thanks to Divine Provi- dence for the mercy it had vouchsafed to him. His next care was to salute his brother, and congratulate him on the acquisi- tion of a kingdom. He found Morad's howdah bristled with arrows, and himself wounded in several places ; and, after expressing the greatest joy at his victory, he began to wipe the blood from his face, and to show the most affectionate attention to his sufferings.11 While this was passing on the field, the unfortunate Dara pursued his flight towards the city ; 3 Bernier has preserved his words when it was seen by Khafi Khan, who in the original Hindostani. says it was stuck as full of arrows as 4 Morad's howdah was preserved a porcupine is of quills, as a curiosity to the time of Ferokhsir, 584 FLIGHT OF DARA A.D. 1658, A.H. 1068 he arrived in the evening with 2,000 horse, many of them wounded — all he now had of the great force with which he had so lately marched out. He was ashamed to present himself before his father, to the disregard of whose opinion he owed his ruin ; and after securing some valuables at his own palace, he continued his flight towards Delhi, accompanied by his wife and two of his children. He had already reached the third regular stage from Agra, before he was overtaken by 5,000 horse, sent by Shah Jehan to his assistance.15 Aurangzib marched to Agra three days after the battle. He encamped before the walls, and took immediate possession of the city. Some more days elapsed before he interfered with the interior of the royal residence. He employed the interval in humble messages to his father, pleading the necessity of his case, and protesting his inviolable respect and duty. It is probable, indeed, that he was sincerely desirous of con- ciliating his father, and would have preferred carrying on the government in his name ; but he found it impossible to gain his confidence, or to shake his attachment to Dara ; arid at length sent his own son, Mohammed Sultan, to take complete possession of the citadel, and to prevent all communications between the emperor and every one beyond its walls. Shah Jehan was still treated with the highest respect : but, although he lived for seven years longer, his reign ends at this period. It seems unaccountable that so able a prince should have thus been dethroned without any of his old servants attempting to stir in his favour : the truth is, that his habits of indulgence had impaired his energy ; and as he had long ceased to head his armies, the troops turned their eyes to the princes who led them in the field, and who had the immediate distribution 15 In the account of the battle I slippers, and mounted his horse with have taken some circumstances from bare feet and without arms. Bernier Bernier, but have preferred the afterwards relates a plot of Shah general narrative of Khafi Khan, Jehan to seize Aurangzib, and a who, besides his access to verbal and counterplot of the latter, which ended written evidence, refers to his own in the seizure of Shah Jehan ; but the father, who was present in the action. story is improbable in itself, and is Bernier lived nearer the time, and not alluded to by Khafi Khan. It is is an excellent writer ; but his ac- necessary throughout to look closely quaintance both with men and books into the accounts which favour must have been limited, and his Aurangzib ; for though Bernier him- means of judging Indians imperfect ; self is captivated with the open his relation, besides, is mixed with character of Dara, his master was a some anecdotes which look like popu- personal enemy of that prince, against lar inventions. Dara's descent from whom Khafi Khan also has a strong his elephant (for instance) is ascribed prejudice ; and both wrote after to the insidious advice of a traitor in Aurangzib had been successful, and the moment of victory ; while Khafi was cried up as the Mussulman hero Khan says he was obliged to get down and the greatest of emperors. in such precipitation, that he left his X. 3 AURANGZIB PROCLAIMED EMPEROR 585 of their honours and rewards. To this must be added the peculiar abilities of Aurangzib, who was more successful in defeating conspiracies and managing factions than in any other branch of government, though he was good in all. Having now no further use for Morad, Aurangzib dismissed him from his pretended sovereignty, without even the ceremony of a quarrel or a complaint. He kept up the delusion of that simple prince by submissive behaviour and constant presents and attentions, till they had marched from Agra in pursuit of Dara ; when he one day invited Morad to supper, and so far waived his own scruples as to allow the free use of the goblet, of which Morad so fully availed himself that he was soon in a state of helpless intoxication. On this he was stripped of his arms without resistance, was cast into chains, and sent off on an elephant to Selimghar, part of the citadel of Delhi ; while three other elephants were despatched, under similar escorts, in different directions, to mislead people as to his place of con- finement. He was afterwards removed to Gwalior, the great state-prison of those days. Aurangzib then continued his march to Delhi, where he caused himself to be proclaimed emperor.16 He did not put his name on the coin, and was not crowned until the first anniversary of his accession, a circum- stance which has introduced some confusion into the dates of his reign. The reign of Shah Jehan, thus harshly closed, was perhaps the most prosperous ever known in India. Though sometimes engaged in foreign wars, his own dominions enjoyed almost uninterrupted tranquillity, together with a larger share of good government than often falls to the lot of Asiatic nations. Notwithstanding Shah Jehan' s love of ease and pleasure, and the time spent in his visits to Cashmir, and the erection of those celebrated structures in which he took so much delight, he never remitted his vigilance over his internal government ; and by this, and the judicious choice of his ministers, he pre- vented any relaxation in the system, and even introduced important improvements, — such as his survey of the Deckan. Khafi Khan, the best historian of those times, gives his opinion, that, although Akber was pre-eminent as a conqueror and a lawgiver, yet for the order and arrangement of his territory and finances, and the good administration of every department of the state, no prince ever reigned in India that could be compared to Shah Jehan. Whatever might be the relative excellence of his govern- ment, we must not suppose that it was exempt from the evils inherent in a despotism : we may assume some degree of 16 Khafi Khan. 586 fraudulent exaction in the officers of revenue, and of corruption in those of justice ; and we have the testimony of European travellers to acts of extortion by custom-house officers, and of arbitrary power by governors of provinces ; but, after all deductions on these accounts, there will remain enough to convince us that the state of India under Shah Jehan was one of great ease and prosperity.17 The erection of such a capital as Delhi proves great private as well as public wealth. Mandesloe describes Agra as at least twice as large as Isfahan (then in its greatest glory), with fine streets, good shops, and numerous baths and caravanserais. Nor was this prosperity confined to royal residences : all travellers speak with admiration of the grandeur of the cities even in remote provinces, and of the fertile and productive countries in which they stood. 1S Those who look on India in its present state may be inclined to suspect the native writers of exaggerating its former pros- perity ; but the deserted cities, ruined palaces, and choked-up aqueducts which we still see, with the great reservoirs and embankments in the midst of jungles, and the decayed cause- ways, wells, and caravanserais of the royal roads, concur with the evidence of contemporary travellers in convincing us that those historians had good grounds for their commendation. The whole continent of India, however, was far from being in a uniform state : vast tracts were still covered with forests, and the mountainous ranges often harboured wild and pre- datory inhabitants. Even in the best-cleared parts there were sometimes revolts of subject rajas, as in Bundelcand, during the present reign ; but in that case the disturbance was confined to a district of less extent than the Tyrol, while populous provinces, as large as France or England, were scarcely aware of its existence. But, after all allowances, the state of the people must have 17 Tavernier, who had repeatedly they do it securely as well, because visited most parts of India, says that the king does not persecute his sub- Shah Jehan " reigned not so much as jects with false accusations, nor de- a king over his subjects, but rather prive them of anything when he sees as a father over his family and chil- them live splendidly, and with the dren " ; and goes on to commend appearance of riches (as is often done the strictness of his civil government, in other Mahometan countries), as and to speak in high terms of the because the Indians are inclined to security enjoyed under it. (Page 108 those vanities," etc., etc. (Page 22, of the English translation of 1678.) English translation of 1665.) Pietro Delia Valle, who wrote in the 18 Mandesloe, for Guzerat ; Grant' last years of Jehangir (1623), when and Bruton (in Murray's Asiatic things were in a worse state than Discoveries), for Bengal, Behar, and under his son, gives the following Orissa ; and Tavernier for most account : — " Hence, generally, all parts of the empire, live much after a genteel way ; and X. 3 LOVE OF MAGNIFICENCE 587 been worse than in an indifferently governed country in modern Europe. On the one side, there are the absence of slavery and polygamy, less personal oppression by the great, and less fear of scarcity and consequent disease ; while on the other there is nothing to oppose but lighter taxation, and freedom from a meddling and complicated system of law and regulation. A fairer object of comparison would be the Roman Empire, under such a prince as Severus : we should there find the same general tranquillity and good government, with similar ex- amples of disturbance and oppression ; the same enjoyment of physical happiness, with the same absence of that spirit which would tend to increase the present felicity, and which might afford some security for its duration beyond the life of the reigning monarch. The institutions, traditions, and opinions which remained from better times must, even in this case, have given a superiority to the European empire. Shah Jehan was the most magnificent prince that ever appeared in India. His retinue, his state establishments, his largesses, and all the pomp of his court, were much increased beyond the excess they had attained to under his predecessors. His expenses in these departments can only be palliated by the fact, that they neither occasioned any increase to his exactions nor any embarrassment to his finances. The most striking instance of his pomp and prodigality was his con- struction of the famous peacock throne. It took its name from a peacock with its tail spread (represented in its natural colours in sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and other appropriate jewels), which formed the chief ornament of a mass of diamonds and precious stones that dazzled every beholder. Tavernier, a jeweller by profession, reports, without apparent distrust, the common belief that it cost 160,500,000 livres, nearly six millions and a half sterling. But his greatest splendour was shown in his buildings. He founded a new city at Delhi, buiHTon a regular plan, and far surpassing the old one in magnificence : three wide streets (one of great length, ornamented by a canal and rows of trees, and composed of houses rising over a line of shops under arcades) led to a spacious esplanade, in the centre of which, and on the Jumna, stood the fortified palace, the spacious courts, marble halls, and golden domes of which have so often been the subject of enthusiastic description. The great mosque of the same city is a work of extraordinary elegance and grandeur. But of all the structures erected by Shah Jehan, there is none that bears any comparison with the Taj Mahal at Agra —a mausoleum of white marble decorated with mosaics, 588 SHAH JEHAN'S WEALTH which, for the richness of the material, the chasteness of the design, and the effect, at once brilliant and solemn, is not sur- passed by any other edifice, either in Europe or Asia.19 All these vast undertakings were managed with so much economy that, after defraying the expenses of his great expe- ditions to Candahar, his wars in Balkh, and other heavy charges, and maintaining a regular army of 200,000 horse, Shah Jehan left a treasure, which some reckon at near six and some at twenty-four millions sterling, in coin, beside his vast accumulations in wrought gold and silver, and in jewels.20 Notwithstanding the unamiable character given of him in his youth, the personal conduct of Shah Jehan seems to have been blameless when on the throne. His treatment of his people was beneficent and paternal, and his liberal sentiments towards those around him cannot be better shown than by the confidence which (unlike most Eastern princes) he so generously reposed in his sons. Shah Jehan had reigned thirty years ; he was sixty-seven years old when he was deposed, and seventy-four when he died. 19 Taj Mahal is a corruption of Mumtaz Mahal, the name of Shah Jehan's queen, whose sepulchre it forms. It stands on a marble terrace over the Jumna, is flanked at a mode- rate distance by two mosques, and is surrounded by extensive gardens. The building itself, on the outside, is of white marble, with a high cupola and four minarets. In the centre of the inside is a lofty hall, of a circular form, under a dome, in the middle of which is the tomb, enclosed within an open screen of elaborate tracery formed of marble and mosaics. The walls are of white marble, with bor- ders of a running pattern of flowers, in mosaics. The graceful flow, the harmonious colours, and, above all, the sparing use of this rich ornament, with the mild lustre of the marble on which it is displayed, form the pecu- liar charm of the building, and dis- tinguish it from any other in the world. The materials are lapis- lazuli, jasper, heliotrope or blood- stone, a sort of golden stone (not well understood), with chalcedony and other agates, cornelians, jade, and various stones of the same descrip- tion. " A single flower in the screen," says Mr. Voysey (Asiatic Researches, vol. v. p. 434), " contains a hundred stones, each cut to the exact shape necessary, and highly polished " ; " and yet," says Bishop Heber, " though everything is fin- ished like an ornament for a drawing- room chimney-piece, the general effect produced is rather solemn and im- pressive than gaudy." In the minute beauties of execution, how- ever, these flowers are by no means equal to those on tables and other small works in " Pietra Dura," at Florence. It is the taste displayed in the outline and application of this ornament, combined with the light- ness and simplicity of the building, which gives it so prodigious an advan- tage over the gloomy panels of the chapel of the Medici. The mosaics of the Taj are said, with great pro- bability, to be the workmanship of Italians. It is singular that artists of that nation should receive lessons of taste from the Indians. 20 Bernier says under £6,000,000 (vol. i. p. 305). Khafi Khan says £24,000,000, and he is not likely to exaggerate, for he makes Shah Jehan's revenue £23,000,000 (only £1,000,000 more than that now col- lected in the British portion of India) ; while it is generally reckoned to have been £32,000,000, and is admitted by Bernier, when depre- ciating it, to be greater than that of Persia and Turkey put together (vol. i. p. 303). XI. 1 AURANGZIB 589 BOOK XI AURANGZIB (OR ALAMGIR) 1 CHAPTER I FROM 1658 TO 1662 Soleiman deserted by Jei Sing and Dilir Khan — Flies to Sirinagar, and is made prisoner by the raja — Aurangzib marches from Delhi in pursuit of Dara, July 28, A.D. 1658 ; Zi Caadah 7, A.H. 1068 — Dara flies from Lahor — Aurangzib returns to Delhi, A.D. 1658, A.H. 1069 — Marches against Shuja, who is advancing from Bengal, January 3, A.D. 1659 ; Rabi Second 17, A.H. 1069 — Treacherous attack on his baggage by Jeswant Sing — Defeat of Shuja — Jeswant Sing threatens Agra, and flies to Mar war — Dara Shukoh appears in Guzerat, and is acknow- ledged in that province — He sets out to join Jeswant Sing — Jeswant Sing is won over by Aurangzib, February 14, A.D. 1659; Jamada'l awwal 1, A.H. 1069 — Abandons Dara — Dara is attacked and defeated by Aurangzib — Disasters of his flight to Guzerat — He is met by Bernier — Ahmedabad shuts its gates on him — He flies towards Sind — He is bo- trayed by the chief of Jun, and delivered up to Aurangzib — He is brought to Delhi^ July 26, A.D. 1659 ; Zi Caaadh 15, A.H. 1069 — Sympathy of the people — He is put to death — Operations against Shuja by Prince Sultan and Mir Jumla — Prince Sultan goes over to Shuja, June, A.D. 1659 ; Ramazan, A.H. 1069 — Returns to his allegiance, January 27, A.D. 1660 ; Jamada's Sani 6, A.H. 1070 — And is imprisoned by his father — Shuja flies to Aracan, April or May, A.D. 1660 ; Shaban or Ramazan, A.H. 1070 — Uncertainty regarding his fate — Soleiman given up by the raja of Sirinagar, January 3, A.D. 1661; Jamada'l awwal 11, A.H. 1071 — Morad murdered in his prison — Expedition of Mir Jumla to Assam, March 12, A.D. 1662 ; Shaban 6, A.H. 1072, to January 6, A.D. 1663 ; Jamada's Sani 6, A.H. 1073 — Death of Mir Jumla, March 31, A.D. 1663 ; Ramazan 2, A.H. 1073 — Dangerous illness of Aurangzib — Intrigues and agitation — Firmness and self-possession of Aurangzib — His recov- ery, December 6, A.D. 1662 — Disturbances in the Deckan — Description of the Maratta country — Account of the nation — Rise of the Bosla family — Shahji Bosla — Sivaji Bosla — His robberies — His adherents — He surprises a hill-fort, A.D. 1646 — He usurps his father's jagir — Obtains possession of several forts, A.D. 1647 — Revolts against the government of Bijapur, A.D. 1648 — Takes possession of the northern Concan — His attachment to the Hindu religion — The government of Bijapur seize Shahji as a hostage for his son, A.D. 1649 — Shahji re- leased, A.D. 1653 — Renewal of Sivaji's encroachments — Plunders tin1 Mogul provinces — Obtains forgiveness from Aurangzib, A.D. 165S — Afzal Khan sent against him from Bijapur — Is assassinated by Sivaji, and his army dispersed, October, A.D. 1659 — Another army sent from Bijapur, May, A.D. 1660 — The king of Bijapur takes the field, January, A.D. 1661 — Recovers most of Sivaji's conquests, A.D. Kit)'-' Sivaji makes a very favourable peace — Extent of his territory, A.D. 166*2. THOUGH Aurangzib's main object was the pursuit of Dara, he did not fail to attend to the motions of Soleiman, who was 1 Aurangzib, on his accession, took designated in Indian history and in the title of A'lamgir, by which he is all regular documents. Europeans, 590 SOLEIMAN'S FLIGHT A.D. 1658, A.H. 1068 marching to his father's aid at the time of the fatal battle. He was a young man of twenty-five, and was assisted in his command by Raja Jei Sing, and accompanied by another general named Dilir Khan. Jei Sing, like the other Rajput princes, had adhered to Dara, as well on account of his lawful claims as of his liberal principles in religion ; but though he had acted with decision against Shuja, the case was different with Aurangzib. His inclinations probably favoured that prince, with whom he had served in Balkh, and his interest counselled him against opposition to the actual possessor of the throne. He determined to abandon Soleiman ; Dilir Khan took the same resolution ; and their defection was aggravated rather than palliated by the paltry pretexts they employed to excuse it. Soleiman, thus deprived of the strength of his army, formed a design of avoiding Aurangzib by keeping close to the mountains, and thus making his way to join his father at Lahor. Aurangzib frustrated his project by sending a detachment to Hardwar to intercept him ; and this disappointment occasioned the desertion of most of his remaining troops. He next sought refuge in Sirinagar, but the raja refused him an asylum unless he would send away the 500 horse that still adhered to him. After a vain attempt to return to the fort of Allahabad, in which his small band was reduced to 200, he agreed to the raja of Sirinagar's terms, entered his fort with five or six attendants, and, though treated with civility, soon found that he was, in reality, in a sort of confinement. Aurangzib did not wait till the conclusion of these opera- tions : after settling his affairs at Delhi he continued his march against Dara. That unfortunate prince, at the commencement of his flight, had halted for a few days at Delhi, where he obtained some treasure, and collected some thousand troops : he then marched rapidly to Lahor, and, finding a large sum of money in the royal treasury, began to raise an army. Before he had made much progress he heard of the advance of Aur- angzib, and soon after of the near approach of a light detach- ment sent on in pursuit of him. Shah Jehan had written to Mohabat Khan (son of the great general), who was viceroy of Cabul ; and it is probable that Dara had been expecting encouragement from him. Besides the troops of the province, Cabul would have afforded a ready refuge, in case of need, among the Afghan tribes, and an easy exit to the territories of the Uzbeks or the Persians ; but these views, if entertained, were disconcerted by the prompt measures of Aurangzib ; and however, as well as some of his own (properly pronounced Ourangzib). countrymen, still call him Aurangzib XI. 1 DEFEAT OF SHUJA 591 Dara, unable to resist the force that threatened him, left Lahor with 3,000 or 4,000 horse, and took the road of Multan on his way to Sind. On this Aurangzib, who had already crossed the Satlaj, altered his course for Multan. Before he reached that city, he heard that Dara had proceeded on his flight, and at the same time received intelligence of the advance of his brother Shuja from Bengal. He therefore gave up his march to the westward, and returned without delay to Delhi. Meanwhile, Shuja had advanced to Benares, with 25,000 horse and a numerous train of artillery ; and Aurangzib, after some stay at Delhi, set out to arrest his progress. They met at Cajwa, halfway between Allahabad and Etaya. Shuja was advantageously posted ; and though both drew up their armies, neither was anxious to begin the attack. On the third or fourth day, Aurangzib was forming his line before daybreak, according to his usual practice, when he was sur- prised by a prodigious uproar that suddenly arose in his rear. This was occasioned by Raja Jeswant Sing, who, though not serving in his camp, had treacherously attacked his baggage. The raja had submitted when Dara's case became hopeless : he had not been received with the confidence or distinction he expected, and had entered on a correspondence with Shuja, promising to fall upon the baggage at a particular hour, when the prince's army was also to attack in front. Had the co- operation been complete, it must have been entirely successful ; for, although Shuja was not at his post in time, it had nearly occasioned the dispersion of his rival's army. The tumult created by the unexpected onset, combined with the darkness and the ignorance of the cause, spread the greatest confusion among the troops who were forming ; some left the field, others flew to protect their baggage, and a few went over to the enemy. In the midst of this perturbation, Aurangzib dis- mounted and seated himself on a portable throne, from which he issued his directions with a serene and cheerful countenance, sent a party to repel the attack, and took measures for checking the disorder which had already spread so far. In the mean- time, Jeswant found that he was not supported, and, ex- pecting to have the whole army turned upon him, was glad to recall his troops from plunder, and to retire to a place out of reach, where he could await in safety the event of the approaching contest. By this time the sun had risen, and Shuja was seen ad- vancing to the attack. The battle began by a cannonade, soon followed by a close action : Aurangzib's right was forced back, 592 DARA'S DOINGS A.D. 1659, A.H. 1069 and his centre, where he was himself, was hard pressed. He was often in imminent danger ; and his elephant was charged by another of greater strength, and would have been borne to the ground if the opposite driver had not been shot by one of the king's guards. But he still continued to press upon the enemy's centre, until they at length gave way and fled from the field, leaving 114 pieces of cannon and many elephants to the victor. Aurangzib sent his son, Prince Mohammed Sultan, in pursuit of Shuja from the field of battle ; and some days after despatched a regular army to support the prince, under the command of Mir Jumla, who, having been released from his mock imprisonment, had joined the army a day or two before the engagement, and acted as second in command on that occasion. Having made these dispositions, he returned to Agra. That city, the most vulnerable point of his possessions, had just been exposed to considerable alarm and danger. Jeswant Sing, as soon as he perceived the victory to incline to his enemies, commenced his retreat towards his own country, and unexpectedly presented himself at Agra before the result of the battle was accurately known. He had it in his power to have made an effort for delivering and restoring Shah Jehan, and it is probable the popular feeling was already strongly inclined in that direction ; for Shayista Khan, who was governor, had given himself up to despair, and was on the point of swallowing poison.2 He was relieved by the departure of Jeswant, who, considering how much he might lose by pushing things to extremities, pursued his march, and was soon safe among the hills and sands of Jodpur. Aurangzib, on reaching Agra, despatched a force of 10,000 men in pursuit of him ; and about the same time he received a report from Prince Mohammed Sultan that the fort of Allahabad had been given up by Shuja's governor ; and that Shuja himself had retired to Bengal. These successes were more than counterbalanced by the intelligence he received of the proceedings of Dara Shukoh. By the last accounts, that prince had deposited his baggage at Bakkar on the Indus ; and, being forced by the desertion of his men and the death of his carriage-cattle to relinquish his design on Sind, he had no means of escaping the detachment in pursuit of him, but by endeavouring to cross the desert to Cach. It now appeared that he had made little stay in that district, that he had entered Guzerat, and had been joined by 2 Bernier. XI. 1 JESWANT SING 593 the governor, Shah Nawaz Khan 3 (one of whose daughters was married to Morad, and another to Aurangzib himself), and by his powerful assistance had occupied the whole province, including Surat and Baroch. He had opened a negotiation with the kings of the Deckan, but had turned his immediate attention to a march to Hindostan, and a junction with Jeswant Sing. Amidst the surprise occasioned by this rapid change of circumstances, Aurangzib did not fail to perceive the increased importance of the Rajput prince, whose territories extended from Guzerat to Ajmir ; and as he never allowed his passions to interfere with his interests, he forgot the perfidy and outrage with which he had just been treated, and set all his usual arts to work to win over his rebellious dependant. He wrote a complimentary letter with his own hand, conceding the rank and titles, his previous refusal of which was the ground of Jeswant's discontent ; and at the same time he called in the aid of Jei Sing, to convince his brother raja of the confidence that might be placed in the king's good- will, and of the ruin that awaited all who joined the hopeless cause of his rival. These arguments and concessions had their weight with Jeswant ; and although Dara had marched from Ah- medabad, and was arrived within fifty miles of Jodpur, he sent to apprise him that he felt himself unable to contend alone with the power of Aurangzib, and could not undertake to join him unless some other of the great Rajput princes could be prevailed on to embark in the same cause. After repeated attempts to bring back Jeswant to his former views and pro- mises, Dara was obliged to renounce all hopes of his assistance, and to move with his own forces into the adjoining province of Ajmir. He had assembled an army of 20,000 men in little more than a month after his arrival in Guzerat, and had left that province with a considerable increase of numbers, and with the addition of thirty or forty guns. With this force he took up and fortified a commanding position on the hills near Ajmir. Aurangzib, who marched from Agra as soon as he heard of the proceedings in Guzerat, was now at Jeipur, and soon arrived in front of Dara's position. After cannonading for three days with loss to his own army, he ordered a general assault. It was obstinately resisted for many hours, till the death of Shah Nawaz (who fell just as a party of Aurangzib's troops had mounted the rampart) so disheartened Dara, that he fled with precipitation, and his troops dispersed in all directions. Even the body of horse that adhered to his l 3 [The brother of Shayista Khan.— ED.] Q Q 594 DARA A FUGITIVE A.D. 1659, A.H. 1069 person gradually straggled and fell off, and some even plundered the treasure which he was endeavouring to save from the wreck of his resources. He reached the neighbourhood of Ahmedabad, after eight days and nights of almost incessant marching, rendered nearly intolerable by the heat and dust of a scorching season. To this were latteiiv added the merciless attacks of the Colis 4/ in the hills, who hung upon his devoted band, and stripped or massacred every man who fell into the rear. It was in the midst of these calamities that Dara was met by the celebrated traveller Bernier, who was on his way to Delhi, unconscious of what had just been passing. As Dara's wife was wounded, and he had no physician, he obliged Bernier to turn back with him, and they remained together for three days. On the fourth they were within a march of Ahmedabad, where they counted on a secure refuge and on some repose after all their sufferings. They slept that night in a caravanserai, which afforded them protection from the attacks of the Colis, but was so confined that Bernier was only separated by a canvas screen from the princesses of Dara's family. About daybreak, when they were preparing for what they thought the last of their distressing marches, news was brought to Dara that the gates of Ahmedabad were shut against him, and that if he had any regard for his own safety he would instantly remove from the neighbourhood. These tidings were first made known to Bernier by the cries and lamentations of the women, and soon after Dara came forth, half-dead with consternation. The bystanders received him with a blank silence, and Bernier could not refrain from tears when he saw him addressing himself to each of them, down to the meanest soldier, conscious that he was deserted by all the world, and distracted with the thoughts of what would become of himself and his family. Bernier saw him depart with the most melancholy forebodings. He was accompanied by four or five horsemen and two ele- phants ; with these he made his way to Cach, and was there joined by about fifty horse and two hundred matchlockmen, who had accompanied one of his faithful adherents from Guzerat. The chief of Cach, who had been hearty in his cause when he first entered Guzerat, now received him coldly. He pursued his march towards Candahar, and reached the small territory of Jun, or Juin, on the eastern frontier of Sind. The chief of the place, who seems to have been an Afghan, was under great obligations to Dara, and received him with every demonstration of attachment, while his only thought was how to betray him to his enemies. Dara's wife (the daughter of his uncle, Parviz) died at this place of her fatigues and XI. 1 MURDER OF DARA 596 sufferings ; and the prince, with a disregard of circumstances that looks like infatuation, sent a portion of his small escort, with two of his most confidential servants, to attend her remains to Lahor. When the period of mourning permitted, he set out on prosecution of his journey to the Indus. The chief of Jun accompanied him for one march, and then returned on some pretext, leaving his brother and a body of troops, as if to attend the prince to the frontier. No sooner was he gone than his brother fell suddenly on Dara, made him and his son Sepehr Shukoh prisoners, and sent to all the king's officers to announce his capture. The news reached Aurangzib while he was celebrating the first anniversary of his accession. He concealed the intelligence until it was confirmed beyond doubt, when he ordered public rejoicings, and directed the feast of the accession to be pro- longed. It had scarcely expired when his prisoners arrived at the capital. Dara, by special orders, was brought in loaded with chains, on a sorry elephant, without housings, and was thus conducted up the most populous streets of the city. The sight awakened a general feeling of compassion and indignation ; and Bernier thought an insurrection so probable, that he went into the street armed, and prepared for any exigency that might arise ; but the sympathy of the people was only shown in tears and groans. Dara was exposed through all the principal places, and then led off to a prison in Old Delhi. The inhabitants were less patient on the next day, when the chief of Jun was recognized on his way to couro, A mob immediately assembled, who first assailed him with reproaches and curses ; and, growing warmer as their numbers increased, began to throw mud, then tiles and stones ; and at last got to such a pitch of fury, that several lives were lost, and the chief himself would have been torn to pieces, if he had not been rescued by the police. Next day the leader of the riot was put to death. A few days after this tumult, a mock consultation was held with some of the king's counsellors and some learned lawyers, at which Dara was pronounced worthy of death, as an apostate from the Mahometan religion. Aurangzib, with seeming reluctance, gave his orders conformably to this opinion, and a personal enemy was selected to carry the sentence into effect. Dara was, with his son, preparing some lentils (the only food they would touch, for fear of poison), when he saw the execu- tioners, and at once guessed his fate : he snatched up a small knife, which he had just been using, and defended himself manfully, until oppressed by numbers. His body was ex- hibited to the populace on an elephant ; his head was cut off 596 SULTAN A.D. 1659, A.H. !< and carried to Aurangzib, who ordered it to be placed on a platter, and to be wiped and washed in his presence. When he had satisfied himself that it was the real head of Dara, he began to weep, and, with many expressions of sorrow, directed it to be interred in the tomb of Humayun. Sepehr Shukoh was sent away, in confinement, to Gwalior.4 During these transactions, Prince Sultan and Mir Jumla were carrying on their operations against Shuja. That prince, on retiring towards Bengal, had taken up a position at Mongir, and had thrown up a strong entrenchment between the hills and the Ganges ; but Mir Jumla turned his left flank by a march through the hills, and compelled him to fall back on Rajmahal, where, during his long government of Bengal, he had established a sort of capital. The rainy season now set in, which in that country puts an end to every sort of movement by land, and Mir Jumla cantoned at some distance from Rajmahal. An important event to both parties had taken place before this pause. Prince Sultan had long been discontented with playing the part of a pageant under the authority of Mir Jumla; and his impatience became so un- governable, that, although he was the eldest son and recognized heir of Aurangzib, he entered into a correspondence with Shuja, and finally deserted to his camp. Shuja received him with honour, and gave him his daughter in marriage ; but, either from disappointed expectations or natural levity of temper, Sultan became as much dissatisfied in his new situation as he had been before ; and after taking an active part in the hostilities which recommenced after the rainy season, he again deserted his party, and returned to Mir Jumla's camp. Aurangzib, who had at one time determined on a journey to Bengal, had given it up before this news reached him. He showed himself little affected by his son's behaviour ; he ordered him to be committed to prison, and kept him in confinement for many years. From this time Shuja's affairs went progressively to decay. * Almost all the account of Dara's proceedings is taken from Khafi Khan. I have seldom used Bernier's delightful narrative, except when he was an eye-witness ; for, although he does not differ in the main from the native historian, he introduces many particulars not probable in them- selves, and not alluded to by the other. It is true that he must have received his accounts from persons engaged in the transactions, and that almost immediately after they had occurred ; but such fresh materials have their disadvantages as well as their advantages. Before the sub- jects have been discussed and ex- amined, each man knows but a frag- ment of the whole, and to it he adapts the reports he hears from others : the beaten party have always some act of treachery, or some extraordin- ary accident, with which to excuse their defeat ; and all men take a pleasure in discovering secret his- tories and latent motives, which are soon forgotten unless confirmed by further testimony. XI. 1 VARIOUS ASSASSINATIONS 597 After a series of unsuccessful struggles, he was compelled to retreat to Dacca ; and, Mir Jumla continuing to press him with vigour, he quitted his army, fled with a few attend- ants, and took refuge with the raja of Aracan. His subse- quent story is uncertain. It would appear that the raja took some unfair steps to prevent his leaving Aracan, and that Shuja entered into a plot with the Mussulmans of the country, to overturn the raja's government : this much is certain, that Shuja and all his family were cut off, and, though there were many rumours regarding them, were never heard of more. His ignorance of Shuja's fate left Aurangzib in some uneasiness for a time, but that and all his other grounds of anxiety were removed before the end of the next year. He had attempted by means of threats, and afterwards by force, to compel the raja of Sirinagar to give up Soleiman Shukoh. The raja (whether from avarice, or policy, or sense of honour) withstood all his demands, until he had recourse to Jei Sing, his zealous agent in all negotiations with Hindus. By that chief's persuasion, the raja was, at length, induced to make over Soleiman to the imperial officers, and by them he was conveyed to Delhi.5 He was paraded through the city on an elephant, and then brought before the emperor. The chains were taken off his legs, but his hands were still secured in gilded fetters. His appearance affected many of the courtiers to tears. Even Aurangzib put on an appearance of compassion ; and when he entreated that, rather than have his strength and reason undermined by drugs 6 (as was thought to be often the fate of captive princes), he might be put to death at once, the emperor addressed him in the mildest accents, and assured him of safety and good treatment.7 It was not believed that he kept his word, for Soleiman, his brother Sepehr Shukoh, and the young son of Morad all died in Gwalior within a short space,8 while the emperor's own son, Sultan, who was confined in the same fort, lived several years, and was partially restored to freedom. The atrocious murder of Morad, which took place a few months after Soleiman's imprisonment, justifies the worst suspicions. That unfortunate prince had endeavoured to escape by means of a rope let down from the battlements ; but the wailing of a Hindu concubine, of whom he was taking leave, drew the attention of the guard, and led to the discovery of »5 Kh&fi Khan. 7 Bernier, who was present at the 6 [For the pusta, or slow poison interview, of poppies, see Mill's India, vol. ii. 8 Bernier. p. 401, note. — ED.] 598 MIR JUMLA DIES A.D. 1661, A.H. 1072 his design. Aurangzib felt that his own security was incom- plete while his brother lived ; and, as he had not even the shadow of an offence to allege against him, he instigated the son of a man. who had been arbitrarily put to death by the prince while viceroy of Guzerat, to complain of him as a murderer ; when, after the ceremony of a trial, and a legal sentence, the unhappy Morad was executed in his prison.9 Some time before this period, Aurangzib sent a force against the raja of Bikanir, who had deserted him in the Deckan, and still held out against him. He was reduced to submission by this expedition. When the quiet of Bengal had been restored by the successes of Mir Jumla, it seems to have been an object with Aurangzib to find employment for that powerful minister. To that end he engaged him in the conquest of Assam, a rich country lying along the river Brahmaputra, and shut in on both sides by woody mountains. Mir Jumla marched from Dacca up the river, conquered the petty principality of Cuch Behar, overran the plain of Assam, and took possession of Ghergong, the capital. He announced his success with great exultation to the emperor, and boasted of his intention of pursuing his conquests, and opening the way to China. Soon after this the rainy season set in ; the whole plain was flooded ; the cavalry could not march, nor even forage ; the natives as- sembled on all sides, cut off supplies and stragglers, and distressed the camp ; and as the rains subsided, a pestilential disorder broke out among the troops ; so that when the season opened, Mir Jumla, although he had received reinforcements, was obliged to renounce his magnificent projects, and even required the exertion of his known talents to obtain such contributions and cessions from the raja as might save his honour from the appearance of a defeat. When he had accomplished this object he withdrew his army ; but died before he reached Dacca, worn out with the fatigues and sufferings which, though at a very advanced age, he had encountered equally with the humblest soldier.10 The emperor immediately raised his son, Mohammed Amin, to the high rank and honours which had been possessed by the deceased. The death of this powerful subject seemed to relieve Aurangzib from every ground for jealousy or apprehension ; but he had recently received a severe warning of the precarious terms on which he still held his life and empire. Soon after the fifth anniversary of his accession he was seized with a violent illness, which at first threatened immediate death, and afterwards left him in a state of extreme bodily weakness. » Khafi Khan. Bernier. 10 Ibid. XI. 1 ILLNESS OF AURANGZIB 599 and almost entirely deprived of the use of speech. This unexpected calamity shook his newly established government to its foundations. Reports were current that Raja Jeswant was in full march to release Shah Jehan, and that Mohabat Khan was coming from Cabul with the same intention. The partisans of the deposed monarch began to intrigue at the capital ; while two parties were formed among the emperor's own adherents — one anxious to secure the succession to his second son, Moazzim, and the other to raise his third son, Akber,11 to the throne. These dangers were averted by the constancy and force of mind of Aurangzib himself. On the fifth day of his illness, though scarcely rescued from the jaws of death, he caused himself to be raised up, and received the homage of his principal courtiers ; and on a subsequent day, when his having a fainting-fit had led to a general report that he was dead, he summoned two or three of the greatest nobles to his bedside ; and although not yet recovered from the paralysis which had affected his tongue, he wrote an order, in their presence, to his sister Roushanara, to send his great seal, which had been entrusted to her, and placed it near himself, that no use might be made of it without his special orders. The respect and admiration inspired by his conduct on these occasions had as much effect in suppressing disturbances as the prospect they afforded of his recovery.12 As soon as he was able to travel, he set off for Cashmir, where he hoped to regain his strength sooner than at any place in the plains.13 While Aurangzib was seeking repose in the north, a scene was opening in the Deckan with which his thoughts were soon to be fully employed. The Maratta race, it will be remembered, inhabits the country lying between the range of mountains which stretches along the south of the Nerbadda, parallel to the Vindhya chain, and a line drawn from Goa, on the seacoast, through Bidar to Chanda, on the Warda. That river is its boundary on the east, as the sea is on the west. The great feature of the country is the range of Siadri, more commonly called the Ghats, which runs along the western part of it, thirty or forty miles from the sea ; and, though only from 3,000 to 5,000 feet high, is made very remarkable by its own peculiarities, and by the difference between the tracts which it divides. On the west it rises abruptly, nearly from the level of the sea, and on that side presents an almost 1 [Or, rather, Azam. — ED.] 2 Bernier. Khafi Khan merely mentions a dangerous illness. I3 Bernior 600 THE CONCAN inaccessible barrier ; but on the east it supports a table-land 1,500 or 2,000 feet high, extending eastward, with a gradual slope, far beyond the Maratta limits, to the Bay of Bengal. The strip of land between the Ghats and the sea is called the Concan, and is, in general, very rugged. Towards the coast are small rich plains, producing rice ; the rest is almost imper- vious from rocks and forests, cut by numerous torrents, which change, when near the sea, into muddy creeks, among thickets of mangrove.14 The summits of the ridge itself are bare rocks ; its sides are thickly covered with tall trees mixed with underwood. The forest spreads over the contiguous part of the table-land to the east, a tract broken by deep winding valleys and ravines, forming fit haunts for the wild beasts with which the range is peopled. Fifteen or twenty miles from the ridge the valleys become wide and fertile, and by degrees are lost in open plains, which stretch away to the east- ward, covered with cultivation, but bare of trees, and rarely crossed by ranges of moderate hills. The great chain of the Ghats receives the whole fury of the south-west monsoon, the force of which is thus broken before it reaches the plains. For several months the high points are wrapped in clouds, and beaten by rains and tempests. The moisture soon runs off from the upper tracts, but renders the Concan damp and insalubrious throughout the year. The greatest of the inferior branches of hills which run east from the Ghats is that called the range of Chandor, from one of the forts constructed on its summits. It separates the low basin of the Tapti from that of the Godaveri, on the table- land. The basin of the Tapti is composed of Khandesh and Berar, fertile plains, only separated from Guzerat by the forest tract of Baglana, and differing in many respects from the high country, which is more peculiarly that of the Marattas. The whole of the Ghats and neighbouring mountains often terminate towards the top in a wall of smooth rock, the highest points of which, as well as detached portions on insulated hills, form natural fortresses, where the only labour required is to get access to the level space, which generally lies on the summit. Various princes, at different times, have profited by these positions. They have cut flights of steps or winding roads up the rocks, fortified the entrance with a succession of gate- ways, and erected towers to command the approaches ; and thus studded the whole of the region about the Ghats and 14 The native legends relate that rescued from it by a miracle of one the sea once washed the foot of the of the gods. Ghats, and that the Concan was XI. 1 THE MARATTAS 601 their branches with forts, which, but for frequent experience, would be deemed impregnable. Though the Marattas had never appeared in history as a nation, they had as strongly marked a character as if they had always formed a united commonwealth. Though more like to the lower orders in Hindostan than to their southern neighbours in Canara and Telingana, they could never for a moment be confounded with either. They are small sturdy men, well made, though not hand- some. They are all active, laborious, hardy, and persevering. If they have none of the pride and dignity of the Rajputs, they have none of their indolence or their want of worldly wisdom. A Rajput warrior, as long as he does not dishonour his race, seems almost indifferent to the result of any contest he is engaged in. A Maratta thinks of nothing but the result, and cares little for the means, if he can attain his object. For this purpose he will strain his wits, renounce his pleasures, and hazard his person ; but he has not a conception of sacrific- ing his life, or even his interest, for a point of honour. This difference of sentiment affects the outward appearance of the two nations ; there is something noble in the carriage even of an ordinary Rajput, and something vulgar in that of the most distinguished Maratta. The Rajput is the most worthy antagonist — the Maratta the most formidable enemy ; for he will not fail in boldness and enterprise when they are indispensable, and will always support them, or supply their place, by stratagem, activity, and perseverance. All this applies chiefly to the soldiery, to whom more bad qualities might fairly be ascribed. The mere husbandmen are sober, frugal, and industrious, and, though they have a dash of the national cunning, are neither turbulent nor insincere. The chiefs, in those days, were men of families who had for generations filled the old Hindu offices of heads of villages or functionaries of districts,15 and had often been employed as partisans under the governments of Ahmednagar and Bijapur. They were all Sudras, of the same cast with their people, though some tried to raise their consequence by claiming an infusion of Rajput blood. The early Mahometan writers do not seem to have been aware of the existence of the Marattas. We can perceive, by the surnames of some chiefs whom they mention, that they must have belonged to that race ; but the word Maratta first occurs in Ferishta, in the transactions of the year A.D. 1485, and is not then applied in a general sense. It has been 16 Patois, d6smukhs, d6sp4ndis, etc., etc. See pp. 67 and 266. 602 MALOJI BOSLA mentioned that, in the middle of the sixteenth century, the king of Bijapur adopted the Maratta language, instead of Persian, for his financial papers ; and as he was substituting natives of the Deckan for foreigners in his armies, he enlisted a considerable number of Marattas among them. They were at first chiefly employed in the lowest military capacity, that of garrisoning forts ; by degrees their aptitude for service as light cavalry was discovered, and they began to obtain military rank under the governments of Bijapur and Ahmednagar ; while individuals were also engaged in the service of the Kutb Shah kings of Golconda. Still, they are very little mentioned by the Mussulman writers, until the beginning of the seventeenth century. In the time of Malik Amber they emerge into notice, and thenceforward occupy a con- spicuous part in the history of the Deckan.16 Among the officers of Malik Amber was a person named Maloji, of a respectable though not a considerable family, the surname of which was Bosla. He served with a few men mounted on his own horses, and was especially dependent on the protection of Jadu Rao. If any Maratta had a claim to Rajput descent, it was the family of Jadu. The name is that of one of the Rajput tribes : it was borne at the first Mahometan invasion by the raja of Deogiri, the greatest prince in the Deckan ; and it is not improbable that the protector of Maloji (who was desmukh of a district not far from Deogiri) may have been descended from that stock. Whatever was his origin, Lukji Jadu Rao had attained to a command of 10,000 men under Malik Amber, and was a person of such consequence, that his desertion to Shah Jehan turned the fate of a war against his former master. It was long before this defection that Maloji Bosla attended a great Hindu festival at the house of Jadu, accompanied by his son Shahji, a boy of five years old. During the merriment natural to such an occasion, Jadu Rao took young Shahji and his own daughter, a girl of three years old, on his knees, and said, laughing, that " they were a fine couple, and ought to be man and wife." To his surprise, Maloji instantly started up, and called on the company to witness that the daughter of Jadu was affianced to his son. It did not require the pride of birth to raise Jadu's indignation at the advantage taken of him, and the consequence was a rupture between him and his dependent. But Maloji was by this time on the road to fortune : he acquired a considerable sum of money, increased his party, and, being an active partisan, rose at last to a command of 5,000 horse in the service of Ahmednagar, and 16 Grant Duff, vol. i. pp. 73—96. XI. 1 SIVAJ1 603 to the possession of a large jagir, of which the chief place was Puna. He had still kept up his son's claim to the daughter of Jadu Rao, which, in his present prosperity, was no longer looked on as so unreasonable ; and Jadu Rao at last consenting, his daughter was regularly married to Shahji. One of the fruits of this union was Sivaji, the founder of the Maratta empire.17 Shahji has already been mentioned as a great actor in the last events of the kingdom of Ahmednagar.18 He then entered the service of Bijapur, and was continued in his jagir, which had fallen to that state in the partition of the Ahmednagar territory. He was afterwards employed on conquests to the southward, and obtained a much more considerable jagir in the Mysore country, including the towns of Sira and Ban- galor. As all Maratta chiefs were wholly illiterate, their affairs were managed by Bramins, who formed a numerous class of men of business, even under the Mahometans. A person of that cast, therefore, whose name was Dadaji Condu, was left in charge of the jagir at Puna, and to him was committed the care of the chief's second son, Sivaji, the elder accompanying his father to the Mysore. The education of a young Maratta consisted in horsemanship, hunting, and military exercises ; and as Puna is situated at the junction of the hilly country with the plains, Sivaji's principal associates were the soldiery belonging to his father's horse, or the plundering highlanders of the neighbouring Ghats. From such companions he imbibed an early love of adventure, which was increased by his fondness for listening to the ballads of his country. By the time he was sixteen he began to be beyond the control of Dadaji, by whom he had been admitted to a share in the management of the jagir ; and though he was generally popular for his conciliat- ing manners, he was already suspected of sharing in several extensive gang-robberies committed in the Concan. Those practices and his hunting excursions made him familiar with every path and defile throughout the Ghats, and he was before well acquainted with their wild inhabitants. Those in the parts of the range north of Puna were Bhils and Colis,19 and those to the south Ramusis ; but immediately to the west of Puna were Marat tas, who had long braved the dangers and hardships of that uncultivated region, and who were called Mawalis, from the appellation of the valleys where they resided. It was from among these last that Sivaji chose his earliest adherents ; and as he was remarkably quick and 17 He was born in May, 1627 (Grant 18 A.D. 1636. See p. 568. Duff, vol. i. p. 122). is Hill tribes. See p. 211. 604 SIVAJI'S PROGRESS A.D. 1646 A.H. 1057 observant, he soon perceived a way of employing them on higher objects than he had yet been engaged with. The hill-forts belonging to Bijapur were generally much neglected : being remote and unhealthy, they were sometimes occupied by a single Mahometan officer, with a small garrison of ill-paid local troops ; at other times they were left in charge of the nearest desmukh, or other revenue officer. Among those in the last predicament was Torna, a strong fort twenty miles south-west of Puna. Of this place Sivaji contrived to get possession,20 and succeeded, by a proper application of arguments and money, in convincing the court of Bijapur that it was better in his hands than in those of the desmukh. But on his afterwards fortifying a neighbouring hill, the attention of the government was seriously drawn to him, and remonstrances were addressed to Shahji on his son's proceedings. Shahji made the best excuse he could, and wrote in strong terms to Dadaji and Sivaji to forbid their attempting any further encroachments. The Bramin used all his endeavours to persuade his young chief to attend to these injunctions ; but he did not long survive the receipt of them, and Sivaji, when freed from his control, pursued his enterprises with more audacity than before. He withheld the revenue of the jagir, which was due to Shahji ; and as there were two forts within it (Chakan and Supa), held by officers immediately under his father, he gained over the first and surprised the second ; and being now master within his own jagir, he pro- ceeded to more extensive undertakings. He bribed the Mahometan governor to surrender Condana, or Singhar, a strong hill-fort near Puna : and, by taking advantage of a dispute between two Bramin brothers, friends of his own, who were contesting the command of the still stronger hill-fort of Purandar, he introduced a body of Mawalis into the place, and treacherously took possession of it for himself.21 As all these acquisitions were made without bloodshed, and without disturbing the neighbouring districts, they called forth no exertion on the part of the king of Bijapur, who was at this time occupied with conquests to the southward, and with the magnificent buildings which he was erecting at his capital.82 20 Grant Duff, vol. i. p. 131. accounts both for the difficulty found 21 Grant Duff. in tracing his early rise and the 22 " Thus did Sivaji obtain posses- astonishing rapidity with which he sion of the tract between Chacun and extended his power, when his progress the Neera : and the manner in which had attracted notice, and longer con- he established himself, watching and cealment was impossible." (Grant crouching like the wily tiger of his Duff, of whose clear and animated own mountain valleys, until he had account of Sivaji that inserted in the stolen into a situation from whence text is a mere abstract.) he could at once spring on his prey, XI. 1 SEIZURE OF SHAHJI 605 But the time was come when Sivaji's own views required that he should throw off the mask.23 The signal of open rebellion was the plunder of a convoy of royal treasure in the Concan ; and before the court recovered its surprise at this outrage, it heard that five of the principal hill-forts in the Ghats had fallen into the hands of Sivaji. Almost immediately after this, a Bramin officer of his surprised and made prisonei the Mahometan governor of the northern Concan ; and not only took possession of Kalian, where he resided, but occupied the whole of his province, and compelled him to give orders for the surrender of all his forts. Sivaji was transported with this success. He received the governor with respect, and dismissed him with honour. His first care in his conquest was to restore Hindu endowments, and revive old institutions. He had been brought up in a strong Hindu feeling, which perhaps was, at first, as much national as religious ; and out of this sprang up a rooted hatred to the Mussulmans, and an increasing attachment to his own superstitions. This inclination fell so well in with his policy, that he began to affect peculiar piety, and to lay claim to prophetic dreams, and other manifestations of the favour of the gods. The court of Bijapur, when at length awakened to Sivaji's designs, was still misled by the belief that he was instigated by his father. They therefore dissembled their displeasure until they had an opportunity of making Shahji prisoner. His seizure was effected, under pretence of a friendly enter- tainment, by a chief of the family of Gorpara, on whom Sivaji afterwards most amply revenged his treachery.24 Shahji's assurances that he was innocent of his son's transgressions received little credit from the court of Bijapur ; and, after being allowed a reasonable time to put a stop to the insurrection, he was thrown into a dungeon, and told that the entrance would be built up after a certain period, unless Sivaji should make his submission in the interval. Sivaji was seriously alarmed by this threat ; but reflection convinced him that submission was not the way to gain safety from so treacherous an enemy. He held out as before, and made overtures to Shah Jehan, whose territories he had carefully abstained from injuring. The emperor received his application favourably, took him into his service, and appointed him to the rank of a commander of 5,000. It was probably owing to his powerful interposition that Shahji was released from his dungeon, although he remained for four years a prisoner at large in Bijapur. Tranquillity prevailed during this interval, Sivaji teing restrained by fears for his father, and the government 23 Grant Duff. 24 jbid. 606 SIVAJI ACTIVE A.D. 1655, A.H. 1066 of Bijapur by the apprehension that Sivaji might call in the Moguls. At the end of that time the disorders in Carnata rendered Shahji's presence necessary to the interests of the government. His own jagir had been overrun, and his eldest son killed ; while all the surrounding country was in arms, and threatened the speedy expulsion of the Bijapur authorities. No sooner was his father released, and the attention of the Bijapur government turned to the affairs of Carnata, than Sivaji began with fresh activity to renew his plans of aggran- dizement. The whole of the hilly country south of Puna, from the Ghats inclusive to the Upper Kishna, was in the hands of a Hindu raja, whom Sivaji could never prevail on to join in his rebellion. He now procured his assassination, and profited by the consternation which ensued to seize on his territory. After this atrocity he surprised some hill-forts and built others, and went on extending his authority, until Prince Aurangzib was sent down to the Deckan in 1655. Sivaji at first addressed the prince as a servant of the Mogul government, and obtained a confirmation of his possessions from the imperial authority. But when he found Aurangzib engaged in war with the king of Golconda, and fancied he saw the prospect of long troubles, he determined to profit by the confusion at the expense of all the combatants, and for the first time invaded the Mogul territories. He surprised the town of Juner, and carried off a large booty ; and afterwards attempted the same operation at Ahmednagar, where he met with only partial success. The rapid conquests of Aurangzib disappointed all his hopes ; and, during the prince's operations against Bijapur, he endeavoured, by every sort of excuse and promise, to obtain forgiveness for his rash attack. When the sickness of Shah Jehan called off Aurangzib to Delhi, Sivaji continued his devotion, and offered his zealous services, provided attention were paid to some claims he pretended to possess within the Mogul territory. The prince readily granted him forgiveness, on his engaging to send a body of horse to the army, but endeavoured to reserve the question of his claims for future inquiry ; and Sivaji, who was as artful as himself, in like manner suspended the despatch of his horse, and confined his services to promises and professions. He now renewed his attacks on Bijapur (where the king had been succeeded by his son, a minor) ; and the regency, at length aware of the danger of neglecting his advances to power, despatched a large army against him. The commander was Afzal Khan, who to the usual arrogance of a Mahometan noble joined an especial contempt for his present enemy. XI. 1 AFZAL KHAN 607 But that enemy knew well how to turn his presumption to account ; he affected to be awed by the reputation of Afzal Khan, and to give up all hopes of resisting his arms. He sent humble offers of submission to the khan, who deputed a Bramin high in his confidence to complete the negotiation. This man Sivaji won over, and by his assistance Afzal Khan was easily persuaded that Sivaji was in a state of great alarm, and was only prevented surrendering by his apprehension of the consequences. During these negotiations Afzal advanced through intricate and woody valleys to the neighbourhood of the hill-fort of Partabghar, where Sivaji was residing ; and the Maratta consented to receive his assurances of forgiveness at a personal interview, if the Khan would concede so much to his fears as to come unattended for the purpose of meeting him. Afzal Khan on this quitted his army, and went forward with an escort, which he was afterwards persuaded to leave behind, and advance with a single attendant. He was dressed in a thin muslin robe, and carried a straight sword, more for state than any expectation of being required to use it. During this time Sivaji was seen slowly descending from the fort : he advanced with a timid and hesitating air, accompanied by one attendant, and to all appearance entirely unarmed ; but under his cotton tunic he wore a shirt of chain-armour, and, besides a concealed dagger, he was armed with sharp hooks of steel, which are fastened on the fingers, but lie concealed in the closed hand, and are known by the descriptive name of ;' tiger's claws." The khan looked with contempt on the diminutive figure, which came crouching on to perform the usual ceremonies of meeting ; but at the moment of the embrace, Sivaji struck his claws into his unsuspecting ad- versary, and, before he could recover from his astonishment, despatched him with his dagger. He had, before this, drawn his troops from all quarters, by secret paths, into the woods round Afzal's army ; and, on a signal from the fort, they rushed at once on the Mussulmans, who were reposing in insolent security, and slaughtered and dispersed them almost without resistance.25 As soon as the victory was secure, Sivaji issued orders to spare the fugitives : vast numbers fell into the hands of the conqueror, after wandering in the woods until subdued by hunger. They were all treated with humanity ; many of them who were Marattas entered into Sivaji's service, and a chief of that nation, who refused to forfeit his allegiance, was dismissed with presents. During his whole career, Sivaji, though he inflicted death and torture to force confessions of 2* Grant Duff. 608 PEACE A.D. 1660, A.H. 1071 concealed treasure, was never personally guilty of any useless cruelty. This victory gave a fresh impulse to Sivaji's progress. He overran all the country near the Ghats, and took possession of all the hill-forts ; and was going on to complete the reduction of the Concan, when he was recalled by the march from Bijapur of an army much more formidable than the first. He threw part of his troops into forts, and employed the rest to cut off the enemy's supplies ; 26 but he allowed himself to be shut up in the almost inaccessible fort of Panala, and would have been compelled to surrender, after a siege of four months, if he had not contrived, with his usual mixture of boldness and dexterity, to quit the place, during a dark night, after he had amused the besiegers with the prospect of a capitulation. His escape was ascribed at Bijapur to treachery in their general, Sidi Johar, an Abyssinian, whose indignation was excited by this calumny, and added to the elements of discord already abun- dant at Bijapur. The king now took the field in person, and brought such a force along with him as Sivaji was unable to resist. His operations, during the whole of this invasion, were desultory and ill-directed ; and before the end of a year he found himself stripped of almost all his conquests. The king of Bijapur's affairs now obliged him to turn his attention to Carnata, where his presence was further required by the revolt of Sidi Johar. He was employed in that country for two whole years, during which Sivaji recovered and increased his territories. At the end of that time a peace was mediated by Shahji ; and Sivaji remained in possession of a territory including upwards of 250 miles of the country on the sea (being the part of the Concan between Goa and Kalian) ; while above the Ghats its length was more than 150 miles, from the north of Puna to the south of Mirich on the Kishna. Its breadth, from east to west, was, at the widest part, 100 miles. In this small territory the hardiness and predatory habits of his soldiers enabled him to maintain an army of 7,000 horse and 50,000 foot.27 26 Grant Duff. 27 2bid. XI. 2 SIVAJI AND THE MOGULS 609 CHAPTER II FROM 1662 TO 1681 Sivaji's rupture with the Moguls, about the end of A.D. 1662, A.H. 1073 — Shayista Khan marches against him — Occupies Puna — Night exploit of Sivaji — Prince Moazzim sent against him — Sivaji plunders Surat, January 5, A.D. 1664 ; Jamada's Sani 15, A.H. 1074 — Death of Shahji — His possessions in the south of India — Maritime exploits of Sivaji, February, A.D. 1665 — Sivaji assumes sovereignty — Raja Jei Sing sent against him — Submission of Sivaji, A.D. 1665 — He co-operates with Jei Sing against Bijapur — Goes to Delhi — Haughty reception by Aurangzib — Sivaji escapes from confinement — Arrives at Raighar, December, A.D. 1666 — Death of Shah Jehan, December, A.D. 1666 ; Rajab, A.H. 1076 — Prosperous state of Aurangzib's empire — Failure of Jei Sing's attack on Bijapur — His death — Return of Prince Moazzim and Jeswant Sing, A.D. 1667, A.H. 1077 — Progress of Sivaji — He makes peace with the emperor — Levies tribute on Bijapur and Golconda — His internal arrangements, A.D. 1668 and 1669, A.H. 1078 and 1079 — Schemes of Aurangzib to entrap Sivaji, A.D. 1670, A.H. 1080 — Aurangzib breaks the peace — Sivaji surprises Singhar — Ravages the Mogul territory, December, A.D. 1670 ; A.H. 1081 — Chout — Defeats the Moguls in a field-action, A.D. 1672, A.H. 1082 — Khan Jehan made viceroy of the Deckan — Suspension of active operations in the Deckan — Aurangzib occupied by a war with the north-eastern Afghans, from January, A.D. 1673, to October, A.D. 1675 ; Ramazan, A.H. 1083, to Jamada's Sani, A.H. 1086, or thereabouts — Aurangzib returns to Delhi — Insurrection of the Satnarami religionists — Aurang- zib's bigotry — His vexatious treatment of the Hindus — He revives the jizya, or poll-tax, on infidels — General disaffection of the Hindus, A.D. 1677, A.H. 1088 — Oppressive measures against the widow and children of Raja Jeswant Sing — They escape from Delhi — Combina- tion of the Rajputs — The emperor marches against them, January A.D. 1679 ; Zi Haj, A.H. 1089 — Grants favourable terms to the rana of Mewar — The rana breaks the peace, July, A.D. 1680; Rajab, A.H. 1090 — Devastation of the Rajput territory — Permanent aliena- tion of the Rajputs — Prince Akber joins the Rajputs with his army — Is proclaimed emperor — Marches against Aurangzib — Dan- gerous situation of the emperor — His presence of mind — Defection of Akber's army — Akber flies to the Marattas, June 1, A.D. 1681 —Protracted war with the Rajputs. IT was about this period that Aurangzib was attacked by the violent sickness which exposed his life to so much danger.1 He had previously appointed his maternal uncle, Shayista Khan,2 to the viceroyalty of the Deckan, and that officer was now residing at Aurangabad. It does not appear what led to an open rupture between Sivaji and the Moguls ; but soon after the peace with Bijapur we find Sivaji's horse ravaging their country nearly 1 See p. 598. Orme calls him " the first subject in 2 [Shayista Khan was the son of the empire, not of the royal blood. '? Nur Jehan's brother Asaf Khan, and — ED.] his sister had married Shah Jehan. R R 610 SHAYISTA KHAN A.D. 1662, A.H. 1073 to Aurangabad, and himself taking their forts in the neigh- bourhood of Juner. To put an end to these aggressions, Shayista Khan marched from Aurangabad, drove Sivaji's army out of the field, took the fort of Chakan, and finally took up his ground at Puna, within twelve miles of Singhar, the hill-fort into which Sivaji had retired. At Puna, Shayista occupied the house in which Sivaji had passed his early days ; and it was probably the local knowledge thus acquired that suggested a plan for chastising the intruder. The khan had taken every precaution to guard against the advance of troops, and also against the admission of Marattas individually into the town ; and in these circumstances, and with his troops cantoned around him, he thought himself as secure as if he were in a peaceful country. But Sivaji, who was well aware of all that was passing, left Singhar one evening after dark, and, posting small bodies of infantry on the road to support him, went on with twenty-five Mawalis to the town. He gained admission by joining a marriage procession, with the conductor of which he had a previous concert. Being now within the line of guards, he proceeded direct to the house, and entered by a back-door before any person within had a suspicion of danger. So completely was Shayista Khan surprised, that he had barely time to escape from his bedchamber, and received a blow from a sword which cut off two of his fingers, as he was letting himself down from a window into the court below. His son and most of his attendants were cut to pieces in a moment. Sivaji's retreat was as rapid as his attack : he was joined by his parties on the road as he retired, and ascended to Singhar amidst a blaze of torches, which made his triumph visible from every part of the Mogul camp. This exploit, so congenial to the disposition of his countrymen, is the one of all his actions of which the Marattas still speak with the greatest exultation. It was attended with consequences that could scarcely have been foreseen ; for Shayista Khan imputed his danger to treachery on the part of Raja Jeswant Sing, who had not long before been sent to reinforce him ; and the dissensions of the leaders crippled the army, until Aurangzib removed Shayista Khan to the government of Bengal,3 and sent his son, Prince Moazzim, to command, with the assistance of Jeswant Sing. Before the prince's arrival, Jeswant had withdrawn to Auranga- bad, after an attempt to reduce Singhar, and Sivaji was preparing to take a full retaliation for the attack he had been exposed to. During his operations in the mountains, his 3 [Under his government occurred the wars with the English in 1687 and 1688 : see Mill, vol. i. p. 124.— ED.] XL 2 SIVAJI ASSUMES SOVEREIGNTY 611 chief force was in his infantry ; but the Marattas had been distinguished in the Bijapur armies for their services as light cavalry, and it was in this shape that Sivaji now resolved to employ them. After gaining intelligence of the state of affairs where he was going, and deceiving his enemies by various feigned movements, he suddenly set off with 4,000 horse, and came at once on the rich and defenceless city of Surat^ in a part of the country which was thought to be beyond the reach of his arms. He plundered it at leisure for six days ; and though beaten off from the English4 and Dutch factories' where some of the native merchants had also taken refuge, he carried off an ample booty, and lodged it in safety in his fort of Reri, or Raighar, in the Concan. It was soon after this expedition that Sivaji heard of the death of Shahji. Although of a great age, he was killed by a fall in hunting. He had restored his jagir to perfect order, and had extended his conquests to the southward (under the name of the king of Bijapur), until they comprehended the country near Madras and the principality of Tanjore. Sivaji was now again at war with Bijapur, and chiefly carried on his operations in the Concan, where he had estab- lished his capital at Raighar. He collected a fleet, took many Mogul ships, and on one occasion embarked with a force of 4,000 men, on 87 vessels ; and, landing at a remote point in the province of Canara, sacked Barcelor, a wealthy seaport belonging to Bijapur, and plundered all the adjoining tract, where there was not the slightest apprehension of a visit from such an enemy. Nor did he, during these employments, leave the country quiet above the Ghats : he sent troops to ravage the territory of Bijapur, and led, in person, a destruc- tive inroad into the Mogul dominions. This injury did not exasperate Aurangzib so much as the capture of some vessels conveying pilgrims to Mecca, and the violation of Surat, which derives a sort of sanctity from being the place of embarka- tion for those devotees.5 Sivaji had added another provocation to these offences : soon after his father's death he had assumed the title of raja, and began to coin money, one of the most decisive marks of independent sovereignty. A large army was therefore sent to the Deckan, at the head of which was Raja Jei Sing, the constant engine in all difficult affairs with Sindus ; but the emperor's suspicious temper made him still adhere to the system of divided authority, and Dilir Khan was associated on equal terms in the command. These appoint- ments superseded Jeswant Sing and Prince Moazzim, who 4 [See Mill, vol. i. p. 98. — ED.] 5 [Surat is called Bab ul Makkah.— ED.] 612 SIVAJI SUBMITS A.D. 1665, A.H. 1076 returned to Delhi. As Aurangzib anticipated little opposition from Sivaji, Jei Sing had orders, as soon as he should have reduced the Maratta, to employ his arms in the conquest of Bijapur. These chiefs crossed the Nerbadda in February, and advanced unopposed to Puna, when Jei Sing undertook the siege of Singhar, and Dilir Khan that of Purandar. Both places held out ; but Sivaji seems himself to have despaired of successful resistance ; and he may, perhaps, have looked to some recompense, for the temporary sacrifice of his pride, in the advantages he might gain by co-operating with the Moguls against Bijapur. He opened a negotiation with Jei Sing, and after receiving assurances, not only of safety, but of favour, from the emperor he privately withdrew himself from his own army, and went, with a few attendants, to the raja's camp. He was received with great distinction, and on his part made the humblest professions of fidelity. An agreement was concluded by which Sivaji was to give up twenty out of the thirty-two forts he possessed, together with the territory attached to them. The remaining twelve forts, with their territory and all his other possessions, he was to hold as a jagir from the Mogul emperor, in whose service his son Sambaji, a boy of five years old, was to receive the rank of a commander of 5,000. In addition to these advantages, Sivaji was to be entitled to a sort of percentage on the revenue of each district under Bijapur ; and this grant was the foundation of the ill- defined claims of the Marattas, which afforded them such constant pretexts for encroachment on foreign territories in later times. These terms, except the last (which was not noticed), were distinctly confirmed in a letter from Aurangzib to Sivaji. He now joined the imperial army, with 2,000 horse and 8,000 infantry ; and the whole body commenced its march on an invasion of Bijapur. The Marattas distinguished themselves in this campaign, and Sivaji was gratified by two letters from Aurangzib : one complimenting him on his services, and the other containing great but general promises of advancement, and inviting him to court, with a promise that he should be allowed to return to the Deckan. Won by these attentions, and by the cordiality with which he was treated by Jei Sing, Sivaji made over his jagir to three of his chief dependants, and set off for Delhi, accompanied by his son Sambaji, and escorted by 500 chosen horse and 1,000 Mawalis. Aurangzib had now an opportunity of uniting Sivaji's interests to his own by liberal treatment, and of turning a formidable enemy into a zealous servant, as had been done XI. 2 AURANGZIB'S ATTITUDE 613 before with so many other Hindu princes : but his views in politics were as narrow as in religion, and, although he could easily suppress his feelings to gain any immediate advantage, he was incapable of laying aside his prejudices, or making such full and free concessions as might secure permanent attach- ment. Moreover, he despised as well as disliked Sivaji : he felt the insults offered to his religion and his dignity the more because they came from so ignoble a hand ; and he so far mistook the person he had to deal with as to think he would be most easily managed by making him sensible of his own insignificance. Accordingly, when Sivaji was about to enter Delhi, an officer of inferior rank was sent, on the emperor's part, along with Ram Sing, the son of Jei Sing, who went out to meet him ; and his reception, when he came to court, was conducted in the same spirit. Sivaji performed his obeisance, and presented his offerings in the most respectful manner, and probably intended to have made his way, as usual, by suppleness and humility ; but when he found he was received without notice, and placed, undistinguished, among the officers of the third rank,6 he was unable any longer to control his feelings of shame and indig- nation ; he changed colour, and, stepping back behind the line of courtiers, sank to the ground in a swoon. When he came to himself, he reproached Ram Sing with the breach of his father's promises, and called on the government to take his life, as it had already deprived him of his honour. He then retired, without taking leave, or receiving the honorary dress usual on such occasions.7 Aurangzib was not prepared for this decided conduct ; he ordered Sivaji's motions to be watched, while he professed to wait for a report from Jei Sing as to the promises he had really made to him. From this time Sivaji's whole thoughts were turned to the means of making his escape, which was soon rendered more difficult by guards being posted round his residence. He applied for leave to send back his escort, with whom he said the climate of Delhi did not agree ; and as this arrangement seemed to leave him more than ever in the power of the govern- ment, it was willingly agreed to. He next took to his bed on pretence of sickness, gained over some of the Hindu physicians who were allowed to attend him, and by their means established a communication with his friends without. He also made a 6 Commanders of 5,000, the station properly the highest order of no- which had been promised to his infant bility ; in the decline of the empire, son. [It is mentioned in the memoirs the rank of 8,000 and 10,000 was con- of Iradat Khan that Jeanshah ap- ferrccl on powerful ministers." — ED.] pointed him a commander of 6,000, 7 Khafi Khan, on which Scott remarks : " 7,000 was 614 SIVAJT ESCAPES A.D. 1666, A.H. 1076 practice of sending presents of sweetmeats and provisions to be distributed among fakirs and other holy men, Mahometan as well as Hindu, and thus accustomed his guards to the passage of the large baskets and hampers in which those donations were conveyed. At length, one evening, when he had concerted his measures with those without, he concealed himself in one of the hampers, and his son in another, and was carried out unquestioned through the midst of the sentinels. His bed was occupied by a servant, and a long time elapsed before his escape was suspected. In the meantime he repaired to an obscure spot, where he had a horse posted, mounted it with his son behind him, and made the best of his way to Mattra. At this place were some of his chosen companions, in assumed characters ; and he himself put on the dress of a Hindu religious mendicant, shaving off his hair and whiskers, and rubbing over his face with ashes. In this disguise he pursued his journey by the least suspected roads 8 to the Deckan, leaving his son at Mattra in charge of a Maratta Bramin. It must have required much address to elude his pursuers, who had a long time to be prepared for him before he made good his retreat to Raighar. He reached that place on his return, nine months after his departure from Delhi.9 Soon after Sivaji's flight died Shah Jehan. Though always confined to the citadel of Agra, he had been treated with great respect, and allowed an ample establishment and com- plete authority within the palace. He carried this control so far as to prevent the removal of Dara's daughter, whom Aurangzib wished to marry to a son of his own, and also to withhold some valuable crown jewels which the emperor was anxious to possess : on these subjects several letters of remon- strance and expostulation passed between him and his son. This was the most prosperous period of the reign of Aurang- zib. Every part of his own dominions was in the enjoyment of perfect tranquillity. His governor of Cashmir had just brought Little Tibet under his authority, and his viceroy of Bengal made an acquisition of more real value in the fine country of Chittagong, on the eastern shore of the Bay of Bengal. He had also received marks of respect from most of the neighbouring powers. The sherif of Mecca, and several other princes of Arabia, sent embassies ; as did the king of Abyssinia, and the khan of the Uzbeks. The most important came from 8 [By Allahabad, Benares, Gaya, " // it be true that Sivaji has escaped, Cattak, and Hyderabad. — ED.] Aurangzib will quickly hear of him 9 The English factors at Carwar, in to his sorrow," the Concan, write, September 29th : XI. 2 MAKES TERMS WITH AURANGZIB 615 the king of Persia, and was returned by an embassy of unusual splendour. But this last interchange of missions did not lead to permanent friendship ; for some questions of etiquette arose between the monarchs, which led to so much irrita- tion on the part of Shah Abbas II., that he assembled an army in the neighbourhood of Candahar ; and Aurangzib was thinking seriously of moving in person against him, when he heard of the Shah's death, and the discontinuance of all his preparations. The only exception to the general prosperity of the empire was the ill-success of its army in the territory of Bijapur. Jei Sing's operations in that country had at first gone on to his wish ; but as soon as he had formed the siege of the capital, the old plan of defence was adopted against him : the sur- rounding country was reduced to a desert, and all his supplies were cut off by plundering horse. The king of Golconda also secretly assisted his neighbour ; and Jei Sing, perceiving that he had no chance of success, retreated, not without loss and difficulty, to Aurangabad. He was removed after this failure, and died on his way to Delhi. Prince Moazzim was sent to replace him, with Jeswant Sing to assist : Dilir Khan, who was unacceptable to the prince as well as to the raja, was left as an additional check on both. Jei Sing's misfortune was of the utmost importance to Sivaji. During his struggle and retreat he had withdrawn all his troops from the country near the Ghats, had evacuated many forts, and left others with scarcely any garrisons. Many of these were occupied by Sivaji's officers before he himself reached the Deckan, and his own arrival was speedily followed by still more extensive acquisitions. The change in the Mogul commanders was yet more to Sivaji's advantage. Jeswant Sing had a great ascendency over Prince Moazzim, and was much better disposed to the Hindus than to the government which he served ; and it was, moreover, believed that he was not inaccessible to the influence of money. By these means combined, Sivaji enlisted him on his side ; and, through his and the prince's aid, obtained a peace with Aurangzib on terms exceeding his most sanguine hopes. A considerable portion of territory was restored to him and a new jagir granted to him in Berar. His title of raja was acknowledged, and all his former offences seemed to be buried in oblivion. Thus delivered from his most powerful enemy, Sivaji turned his arms against Bijapur and Golconda ; and those states, weak within, and threatened by the Moguls, were unwilling to enter on a new contest with their formidable 616 MUTUAL DECEIT A.D. 1668-9, A.H. 1078-9 neighbour, and averted the evil by the humiliating expedient of agreeing to an annual tribute. A long period of tranquillity which followed was employed by Sivaji in giving a regular form to his government ; and none of his military successes raise so high an idea of his talents as the spirit of his domestic administration. Instead of the rules of a captain of banditti, we are surprised to find a system more strict and methodical than that of the Moguls. The army, both horse and foot, was formed into uniform divisions, commanded by a regular chain of officers, from heads of ten, of fifty, etc., etc., up to heads of 5,000, above which there was no authority except that of the general appointed to command a particular army ; and these officers were not feudal chiefs, but servants of the government, placed over soldiers mustered and paid by its agents. Both troops and officers received high pay, but were obliged to give up their plunder of every description to the state. The most minute attention to economy pervaded every department of Sivaji's service. His civil government was equally regular, and very vigorous, both towards its own officers and the heads of villages ; and this in checking oppression of the cultivators, no less than frauds against the state. His civil officers were all Bramins, and those of the highest rank were often employed in military commands also. The real motive of Aurangzib's concessions was the hope of getting Sivaji again into his power, without the expense and damage of a protracted war with him. He pursued his object with his usual patience, enjoining Prince Moazzim and Jeswant Sing to keep up a constant intercourse with Sivaji, and let slip no opportunity of making him their prisoner. They were even directed to feign disaffection to his own government, and to show a disposition for a secret and separate alliance with the Marattas.10 But Sivaji turned all the emperor's 10 Grant Duff. He, however, rebel in earnest. According to this doubts whether Moazzim ever gave account, Prince Moazzim openly in at all to the emperor's design, and declared against his father, arid was whether he ever attempted to deceive joined by Jei Sing and all the rest of Sivaji by a show of disaffection ; but the army, except Dilir Khan, and it seems probable that he must, to a had actually marched to the river certain extent, have conformed to his Chambal (towards Agra) before he instructions ; and that it was his professed to renounce his design, consequent proceedings that gave rise The only use (it says) made by to the story first told by Catrou (or Aurangzib of the knowledge obtained Manucci) of a mock rebellion of at so great a hazard was to secure Prince Moazzim, got up by his father's himself against one of his enemies by desire, for the double purpose of poisoning Jei Sing. But Jei Sing had finding out his secret enemies and of been removed from the Deckan before discrediting his son, in case that the prince's arrival ; and was dead prince should ever be disposed to before the date of the pretended XI. 2 WAR RENEWED 617 plans against himself : he conciliated Moazzim and Jeswant by bribes and presents, and made them his instruments in deceiving Aurangzib. That monarch was too sagacious not to discover in time the failure of his scheme ; and when he had ascertained it beyond doubt, he gave orders for an open attempt to seize Sivaji, which, of course, involved a renewal of the war. The first blow struck by Sivaji was the recovery of Singhar, near Puna. The Moguls were as sensible as he was of the importance of this place, and maintained in it a strong garrison of Rajputs, under an experienced officer. Yet it was surprised by 1,000 Mawalis, under Sivaji's great friend and confidant, Tanaji Malusri, who contrived to climb up that apparently inaccessible rock in the night-time, and to escalade the walls, before they were discovered by the guards. They, however, met with an obstinate resistance ; and it was not without the loss of their leader, and a large proportion of their number, that they at length overpowered the garrison. Sivaji was so much impressed with the difficulty and importance of the undertaking, that he conferred a silver bracelet on every individual of the survivors. He failed in some attacks on other forts, but reduced a much greater number, and occupied much territory : he also again plundered Surat,11 carried his ravages over Khandesh, and, for the first time, levied the chout, afterwards so celebrated in Maratta history. It was a permanent contribution of one- fourth of the revenue, and exempted the districts that agreed to it from plunder as long as it was regularly paid. Sivaji also equipped a powerful fleet, and renewed his attacks on his old enemies, the Abyssinians of Jin j era, who held a small principality as admirals to the king of Bijapur. This attack was injudicious ; for it led to the Abyssinians placing them- selves under the Moguls, and thus increasing the power of Sivaji's only formidable enemy. insurrection. This last inconsistency to take the field. He seems to draw was discovered by Orme, who does his account from the Bondela Me- not doubt the rest of the story ; but moirs, afterwards translated by Scott the absurdity of the whole is laid open (Deckan, vol. ii. p. 24) ; but he in a few words by Grant Duff (vol. i. goes beyond his authority in some p. 221). It is not the only occasion in things, and omits the Bondela's which the wily character of Aurangzib statement (doubtless an erroneous has led to his being suspected of deep one) that Sivaji actually joined the schemes and intrigues in which he prince. [The Bondela Memoirs are never was engaged. Dow substitutes a journal kept by a Bondela officer Jeswant Sing for Jei Sing, and makes who attended Dalpat Rai, the chief Moazzim's rebellion a real one; of his tribe, in Aurangzib's cam- which, he says, was only frustrated paigns. — ED.] by a succession of skilful operations n [See Mill's History, vol. i. p. 99. on the part of Dilir Khan, after — ED.] Aurangzib himself had been obliged 618 THE AFGHANS A.D. 1671, A.H. 1081 The rapidity of Sivaji's progress was owing to the inade- quacy of the force under Moazzim, whom Aurangzib long refused to reinforce from distrust ; and when, at last, he was convinced of the necessity of having more troops in the Deckan, he sent down an army of 40,000 men, under Mohabat Khan, and quite independent of the prince's authority. Nor was he by any means entirely satisfied even with this new commander : shortly before his march from Delhi he took offence at some of his proceedings, and ordered one of the ministers to remonstrate with him in private. The arrival of his army was attended with no corresponding result. Moazzim remained inactive at Aurangabad ; and Mohabat Khan, after undertaking some sieges, was obliged to suspend his proceedings by the approach of the rainy season. When he again began operations, Sivaji sent an army to raise a siege in which Mohabat was engaged ; and the latter, in an injudicious attempt to cover the siege, exposed a body of 20,000 men to a total defeat by the Marattas.12 This was the first field-action won by Sivaji's troops, and the first instance of success in a fair conflict with the Moguls. It seems to have made a strong impression on the beaten party : they immediately concentrated their forces on Aurangabad, and both Moazzim and Mohabat were soon after recalled ; Khan Jehan, the viceroy of Guzerat, was sent to take their place ; Aurangzib 's exertions were required in another quarter, and the war languished for a period of several years. What drew off Aurangzib's attention was the increasing importance of a war which had for some time been going on with the north-eastern Afghans. It was always a matter of difficulty to remain at peace with those tribes ; but, as the communication with Cabul and other western countries lay through their lands, it was necessary to find some means of keeping them quiet : and as the tribes upon the road were also the most open to attack, it was generally managed, between threats and pensions, to retain them in a certain degree of submission to the royal government. The more powerful tribes were let alone, and remained quiet within their own limits. But from the numerous small communities, and the weakness of the internal government even in the large ones, there must often have been acts of aggression by individuals, which required forbearance on the part of the royal officers. As Aurangzib was very jealous of his authority, and as he knew 12 There are doubts about this arises from the same cause as the battle, which some say was with a defeat, — the divided command of the detachment of Dilir Khan's, and Mogul army, others, of Mohabat's. The obscurity XI. 2 AN UNIMPORTANT WAR 619 nothing of the structure of society among the Afghans, it is not unlikely that he suspected the chiefs of countenancing these irregularities underhand ; but, from whatever cause it proceeded, he fell out with the whole of the tribes, even includ- ing the Yusufzeis. This was the state of things in A.D. 1667, when Amin Khan, the son of the celebrated Mir Jumla, and the successor to his rank and title, was appointed governor of Cabul, and gained such success as for a time prevented the disturbances increasing, although they never were entirely suspended. But, in A.D. 1670, the Afghans regained their superiority, defeated Amin Khan in a great battle, and totally destroyed his army : even his women and children fell into their hands, and were obliged to be redeemed by the payment of a ransom. The Afghans, about the same time, set up a king, and coined money in his name.13 The emperor at last determined to conduct the war in person. He marched to Hasan Abdal, and sent on his son, Prince Mohammed Sultan, whom he had now released and entrusted with the command of an army.14 He probably was prevented going himself by the fear of committing his dignity in a strong country, where great blows could not be struck, and where great reverses might be sustained. This war occupied Aurangzib for more than two years,15 and was carried on through his lieutenants after his own return to Delhi, until the increased disturbances in India, and the hopelessness of success, at length compelled him to be contented with a very imperfect settlement. But although the contest was of such importance at the time, it had no permanent influence on the history of India ; and the events of it, though varied and interesting, may be imagined from those already related under the reign of Akber.16 The emperor had scarcely returned from this unsuccessful 13 The Indian writers seem to con- l5 Khafi Khan. aider this person as an Afghan chief ; 16 This war derives additional but such a nomination is equally in- interest from the picture of it pre- consistent with the feelings and insti- served by one of the principal actors, tutions of that people : and (although Khush Khal, the khan of the tribe of the authority is, no doubt, inferior) Khatak, was a voluminous author, I am inclined to believe, with the and has left several poems, written Europeans, that the pretended king at this time, for the purpose of ex- was an impostor, who was passed off citing the national enthusiasm of his for Shuja, whom the Afghans repre- countrymen. They are remarkable sented to have taken refuge among for their high and ardent tone, and them, and whose pretensions to the for their spirit of patriotism and throne of India would furnish good independence, so unlike the usual means of annoying Aurangzib. character of Asiatics. [Some of 14 [The prince had remained in them have been translated in Capt. prison since 1600 He did not Jive Raverty's specimens of Afghan long after his release.-— ED.] poetry. — ED.] 620 THE SATNARAMIS A.D. 1676, A.H. 1087 expedition when an extraordinary insurrection broke out near the capital. A sect of Hindu devotees, called Satnaramis, were settled near the town of Narnol : they were principally engaged in trade and agriculture ; and, though generally peaceable, carried arms, and were always ready to use them in their own defence. One of their body, having been mobbed and beaten by the comrades of a soldier of the police, with whom he had quarrelled, collected some of his brethren to retaliate on the police. Lives were lost, and the affray increased till several thousand Satnaramis were assembled ; and the chief authority of the place having taken part against them, they defeated a band of troops, regular and local, which he had got together, and finally took possession of the town of Narnol. An inadequate force sent against them from Delhi was defeated, and served only to add to their reputation ; a repetition of the same circumstance raised the wonder of the country, and, joined to their religious character, soon led to a belief that they were possessed of magical powers : swords would not cut nor bullets pierce them, while their enchanted weapons dealt death at every blow. The belief that they were invincible nearly made them so in reality. Many of the zemindars of the neighbourhood took part with them ; no troops could be got to face them ; and as they approached Delhi, Aurangzib ordered his tents to be prepared to take the field, and with his own hand wrote extracts from the Koran, to be fastened to the standards as a protection against enchant- ment. The absolute necessity of resistance, and the exertions of some chiefs, both Mussulman and Hindu, at last prevailed on the royal troops to make a stand, when the insurgents were defeated and dispersed with great loss. But the previous success had tempted many of the Hindu population to take up arms, and had thrown the whole provinces of Ajmir and Agra into such confusion that Aurangzib thought his own presence necessary to restore order.17 These disturbances had irritated his temper, already ruffled by his failure beyond the Indus ; and led him, while he was still in Delhi, to take the last step in a long course of bigotry and impolicy, by reviving the jizya or capitation tax on Hindus. At the second anniversary of his accession (A.D. 1659), he forbade the solar sera, as an invention of fire- worshippers, and directed the Mahometan lunar year to be used on all occasions ; and in this resolution he persevered, notwithstanding long- continued remonstrances from his official people, on the disadvantage of a calendar that did not agree with the seasons.18 J7 Khafi Khan. 18 Ibid. XI. 2 ACTS OF PROHIBITION 621 At the same time he appointed a mullah, with a party of horse attached to him, to suppress all drinking and gambling- houses, and to check all ostentatious display of idol- worship.18 Not long afterwards, he abolished all taxes not expressly authorized by the Mahometan law, and all duties on goods sold at the great Hindu fairs, which he considered as polluted by their original connexion with idolatry. His remissions, as far as they were carried into effect, were productive of great inequality ; the unauthorized taxes being chiefly those that fell on bankers, great traders, and other inhabitants of towns whom the new rule would have left nearly exempt from contribution. The land revenue remained as before ; and the customs and road duties, which were by much the most vexatious of all, were rather increased than diminished.20 But, in fact, the alteration produced a heavy loss to the state, without affording any relief to the subject : except in a few cases, where the exaction was likely to attract notice, the revenue officers and jagirdars confined the remission to their accounts with the government, and levied the taxes without diminution on those under their authority. Some years later he forbade fairs on Hindu festivals altogether ; and about the same time he issued an edict against music, dancing, and buffoons, and discharged all the singers and musicians attached to the palace. He likewise forbade astrology, and dismissed the astrologers previously attached to the court. He also dis- countenanced poets, who used to be honoured and pensioned, and abolished the office and salary of royal poet. It is even distinctly related that he prohibited the composition and recitation of poetry ; 21 but this extreme austerity must have been of very short duration, for his own notes and letters are filled with poetical quotations, and sometimes with extem- porary verses made by himself. His prohibition of history was more permanent : he not only discontinued the regular annals of the empire, which had before been kept by a royal historio- grapher, but so effectually put a stop to all record of his transactions, that, from the eleventh year of his reign,22 the course of events can only be traced through the means of letters on business and of notes taken clandestinely23 by private 19 Khafi Khan. meaning in the text. " Mir Muham- 20 Ibid. mad Hashim composed his history in 21 Ibid. f the latter part of Aurangzib's reign, 22 [The Alamgir ndmah was written but, owing to the well-known pro- by Muhammad Kazim in the thirty- hibition of that monarch, he con- second year of the emperor's reign ; cealed his work, and from some other it goes down to the eleventh year, causes did not publish it until A.H. when Aurangzib forbade its continua- 1145. The book was well received tion. — ED.] on its publication ; and, from the 3 [The word "clandestine" has a circumstance of its having been so I 622 THE JIZYA A.D. 1677, A.H. 1088 individuals. A few years later he took off one-half of the customs paid by Mahometans, while he left those of Hindus undimi- nished. Among other minute reforms, he made further changes in the mode of saluting him ; and discontinued his public appearance at the window of his palace, for fear of affording an opportunity for the ceremony of adoration. Though few of these alterations bore directly on the Hindus, they all tended to stir up a scrupulous and captious spirit, and to mark the line between the followers of the two religions which it had been the policy of former monarchs to efface. His present measures were far more decidedly intolerant : for, although he began with an equitable edict, by which all claims on the government were to be received in the courts, and tried according to the Mahometan law, yet, at the same time, a circular order was sent to all governors and persons in authority to entertain no more Hindus,24 but to confer all the offices immediately under them on Mahometans only. It was found quite impracticable to comply with this order ; and, in fact, most of the above edicts remained a dead letter, and had no other effect but to excite alarm and disaffection. But no such laxity appeared in the levy of the jizya. The poll-tax so called was imposed, during the early conquests, on all infidels who submitted to the Mahometan rule, and was the test by which they were distinguished from those who remained in a state of hostility. The revival of it excited the utmost discontent among the Hindus : those at Delhi and the neighbourhood assembled in crowds, and besieged the king's palace with their complaints and clamours. No attention was paid to these remonstrances. On the next Friday, when the king was going in procession to the mosque, he found the streets completely choked by the crowd of sup- pliants. He waited some time, in hopes that a passage might be opened by fair means ; but as the mob continued to hold their ground, he ordered his retinue to force their way through, and many persons were trampled under foot by the horses and elephants. This harsh conduct was successful in striking terror, and the tax was submitted to without further demur. The effects of these fanatical proceedings were not long in showing themselves. At the beginning of this reign the Hindus served the state as zealously as the Mussulmans, and that even when employed against people of their own long concealed (Khd/i), its author which treat of Aurangzib's reign. — received the title of Khafi Khan." ED.] (Morley* s Catalogue.) Besides Khafi 24 [Nearly all the revenue oflicers Khan's history, Sir H. Elliot (His- had hitherto been Hindus. — ED.] torians, p. 6) mentions fifteen works XI. 2 RELIGIOUS ANIMOSITIES KINDLED 623 religion ; but their attachment declined as they had experience of the new system ; discontent spread among the inhabitants of the emperor's own dominions, the Rajputs began to be disaffected, and every Hindu in the Deckan became at heart a partisan of the Marattas.25 These religious animosities were kindled into a flame by an event which took place a few months after the imposition of the jizya. Raja Jeswant Sing died at Cabul, leaving a widow and two infant sons. The widow immediately set out for India, without leave or passports ; and on her b^ing stopped at the Indus, her escort made an attempt to force the guard at Attok, and afterwards did effect their passage by some neglected ford. This violence offered a pretext for Aurangzib to get the children into his power. He refused them admission into Delhi, and surrounded their encampment with his troops. But on this occasion the Rajputs united considerable address to their accustomed courage. Their leader, Durga Das, obtained leave to send off part of the escort with their women and children to their own country : along with this party he despatched the rani and her infants in disguise, while he substituted two children of the same age for the young princes, and employed one of her female attendants to personate the rani, all which was rendered more easy by the privacy of the women's apartments. In spite of these precautions, many hours had not elapsed before Aurangzib's suspicions were awakened, and he sent orders that the rani and her children should be brought into the citadel. His fears for their actual escape were for the time removed by the obstinacy of the Rajputs, who refused to give up the widow and children of 26 Khafi Khan. The general senti- this way of publishing a sort of niani- ment of the time is well shown in a festo against the government. It is letter to Aurangzib, commonly as- not destitute of ability. It main- cribed to Jeswant Sing. It cannot tains the principles of toleration, be his work ; for it is the letter of an which are violated by the jizya ; open enemy, whose dominions are exalts the liberality of the former about to be invaded ; and Jeswant princes of the house of Timur ; and Sing was serving against the Afghans contrasts the flourishing state of the when the jizya was imposed, and empire in their time with that of the continued beyond the Indus till his present reign, when men of all classes death : it must, besides, have been and religions are discontented, the written at a later period, after the revenue gone to ruin, the people decline of the empire had become oppressed ; and yet the treasury apparent. It is also assigned to Raj empty, the police neglected, the cities Sing, rana of Oudipur, as well as to a insecure, and the forts falling into raja named Subah Sing; and the decay. (A translation of this letter is Marattas claim it for Sivaji (Grant given in Orme's Fragments, p. 252. A Duff, vol. i. p. 219). It is not im- closer translation, with the Persian, probable that it is the work of some was published, by Mr. Weston, in private Hindu politician, who chose 1803.) 624 RAJ SING A.D. 1680, A.H. 1090 their raja, and declared themselves ready to die in their defence. His attention was now occupied in overcoming their resistance ; troops were sent against them, whom they gallantly repulsed. At length, after the loss of the greater part of their number, the supposed rani and her family were seized, while Durga Das and the survivors dispersed for the time, and, again assembling at a distance, retired to their own country. Their protracted defence had given time for the rani to effect her escape. She arrived in safety in Jodpur, and her eldest son, Ajit Sing, lived to enjoy a long reign over Marwar, and to be a formidable enemy to Aurangzib for all the rest of that monarch's life. His identity, however, was long exposed to question ; for Aurangzib, with his usual adroitness, received the sup- posititious children as the undoubted issue of Raja Jeswant Sing, directed them to be honourably treated, and afterwards employed their pretensions in aid of his attacks on Jodpur. This outrage towards the family of one of their body, combined with the imposition of the jizya, disposed the Rajputs to unite in their own defence. Raja Ram Sing of Jeipur, or Amber, whose family was connected with that of the emperor by so many intermarriages and the distinguished services of several generations, retained his attachment even at the present crisis ; but Raj Sing, rana of Oudipur or Mewar, entered heartily into the cause of the children of Jeswant Sing, and at the same time peremptorily refused to agree to the jizya. The whole of the western part of Rajputana being now opposed to him, Aurangzib assembled an army and marched to Ajmir.26 From that place he sent on detachments to ravage Marwar ; and, with his main army, he made so great an impression on the rana as to induce him to send in overtures of submission. He was allowed very favourable terms, a small cession of territory being accepted in lieu of the jizya, and no other sacrifice demanded but a promise not to assist Jodpur. This arrangement concluded, the emperor returned to Delhi, having been absent less than eight months.27 He had scarcely reached his capital, when he learned that the rana had broken the treaty (probably by giving secret assistance to Jodpur), and before many months were over he again set out for Ajmir. On this occasion he put forth his utmost strength, and applied all his energy to the speedy suppression of the combination against him. He summoned Prince Moazzim from the Deckan, and Prince Azam from Bengal ; and at a later period he ordered the viceroy of Guzerat to 2« Khafi Khan. * Ibid. XI. 2 THE RAJPUTS ALIENATED 625 invade the Rajput territory from that quarter also. But the principal attack was made by his own army, which was sent under Prince Akber (assisted by Tohavvar Khan) direct to Oudipur ; while the rana, intimidated by the forces which threatened him on all sides, abandoned his capital, and took refuge in the Aravalli mountains. He was pursued into his retreat by Akber, who left a detachment behind him to ravage the open plains. Prince Moazzim had by this time reached Ujein, and was ordered to adopt the same course ; and Prince Azam, on his arrival, was directed against the Jodpur territory and the adjoining part of the rana's. Their orders were to employ part of their troops to cut off all supplies from the fugitives in the hills, and with the rest to lay waste the country, burn and destroy the villages, cut down the fruit-trees, and carry off the women and children, so as to make the enemy feel all the evils of war in their utmost severity. It is consistent with Aurangzib's character to suppose that these inhuman orders were dictated by an unfeeling policy alone ; but his religious prejudices and his hatred of opposition make it probable that anger and revenge also had an influence even on his calculating temper. Whatever were the motives, the effect was to complete for ever the alienation of the Rajputs. They were afterwards often at peace with Aurangzib's suc- cessors, and they sometimes even furnished their contingents, and professed their allegiance, but their service was yielded with constraint and distrust, very unlike the zealous attachment which formerly made them the prop of the monarchy. During all this time, the Rajputs kept a body of 25,000 horse, chiefly Rahtors of Jodpur, in the field, with which, aided by their infantry in the hills, they occasioned much distress and some danger to their adversaries : they cut off convoys, attacked detachments, defended favourable positions, and sometimes gained important advantages by surprises and night attacks. But Durga Das, who still acted a prominent part in their councils, did not trust to force alone for the deliverance of his country. He endeavoured to open a negotia- tion with Prince Moazzim, and to draw him off from his allegiance by offers to support him in possessing himself of the crown. These prospects seem for a time to have had some charms even for Moazzim, a prince of mature years, and next in succession to the throne ; but, on his rejection of them, they were eagerly embraced by Prince Akber, the youngest of the brothers, who was then only twenty-three, and who in his boyhood had been considered as the chosen heir of his father.28 He at once entered into Durga Das's views ; and although 28 Bernier, vol. i. p. 193. 88 626 DESERTION OF TOHAVVAR KHAN Prince Moazzim warned the emperor of the plots which were going on, yet Aurangzib was attached to Akber, whose youth, he thought, prevented his being dangerous, and at the same time he entertained the greatest jealousy of Moazzim himself. He therefore set down his information to envy or some worse motive, and took no step to guard against Akber's infidelity, until he heard that Durga Das was encamped beside him, and that he had assumed the title and all the functions of a king. Tohavvar Khan became his prime minister ; Mojahid Khan, another great nobleman, also accepted an office ; and the rest of the army, destitute of a leader, continued submissive to the authority which they had been accustomed to obey. Aurangzib had sent all his troops on different detachments, and had scarcely one thousand men with him at Ajmir, when he heard that Akber was in full march against him. He instantly called in Moazzim, with as many of his troops as he could assemble ; but they produced nothing capable of opposing Akber, now at the head of 70,000 men. Aurangzib's situation seemed hopeless ; and, to render it still more desperate, he gave way to his old suspicions of Moazzim ; and ordered his guns to be pointed on that prince's division. But he did not lose his penetration even in this perplexity ; conjecturing that the bulk of Akber's army had been surprised into revolt, rather than led to it by any real disaffection, he sent an officer of ability, who was brother to Mojahid Khan, with a small body of horse, to get as near as he could to the enemy, and try to open a communication with his brother. Mojahid, who had never sincerely united with Akber, took the first opportunity of coming over to his brother. His example was followed by other chiefs, and the general inclination was so evident that Tohavvar Khan, when next day sent out with the advanced guard, came forward as if to engage with that opposed to him, and at once passed over to the emperor's side. It is not clear whether there was a real or affected suspicion that he came over with treacherous intentions, or whether, which is extremely improbable, he really did entertain such designs ; but a report was set on foot that he intended to assassinate the emperor, and, on his refusing to give up his arms, force was used, and he was cut down close to the royal pavilion. Meanwhile his desertion, and that of so many other men of all ranks, struck the Rajputs with dismay ; and, finding themselves left to oppose the whole Mussulman army, they thought it necessary at last to attend to their own safety ; only Durga Das remaining, with 3,000 horse, to protect Prince Akber on his retreat. That prince was left with scarcely a XI. 2 WAR WITH THE RAJPUTS 627 single Mahometan soldier, and all he could expect from the Rajputs was to be allowed to share in their privations. He therefore resolved to seek an asylum with the Marattas ; and, eluding pursuit by a march through the hills into Guzerat, he made his way to the Concan, and arrived in safety, still escorted by Durga Das, with 500 Rajputs.29 But the war with Mewar and Jodpur, though it had returned into its old channel, continued unabated. The Moguls went on with their ravages ; the Rajputs retaliated by similar inroads into Malwa ; and having, at length, caught the spirit of intolerance from their persecutors, they plundered the mosques, burned the Koran, and insulted the mullahs. The chief sufferer by this system of hostility was the rana of Oudipur, whose fertile territory lay nearest the Moguls, and was occupied by their troops ; while the remote and barren tracts under Jodpur were less exposed to such an impression. Aurangzib himself was desirous of putting an end to a struggle which withdrew him from more important affairs, and, by his contrivance, the rana was induced to make overtures, which were immediately and favourably received. The jizya was passed over in silence, the small cession formerly made in lieu of that impost was now given as a penalty for having assisted Akber ; but all the other articles were favourable to the rana, whose honour was saved by a clause promising the restoration of Ajit Sing's country to him when he should come of age.30 This treaty allowed Aurangzib to draw off his army, without discredit, to the Deckan, where its presence could no longer be dispensed with ; but it did little towards the real restoration of tranquillity. The western Rajputs were still in arms ; the war with the rana was renewed at no distant period ; and the whole of the Rajput states, except Jeipur and the little principalities towards the east, continued in a state of open hostility till the end of Aurangzib's reign. The capitals remained in the hands of the Moguls ; but, though the dissensions among the Rajputs prevented their making solid acquisitions, they still severely harassed the troops in their own country, and often laid waste the neighbouring provinces.31 29 Letters from Bombay, quoted in hometan newspapers (akhbars) of the Orme's Fragments, p. 267. day, which he mentions were in his 10 Orme's Fragments, p. 106. Tod's possession. It is certainly quite Rdjasthdn, vol. i. p. 388. unlike the Rajput legends ; being 31 Tod's Rdjasthdn, vol. ii. p. 69, distinct and consistent, and con- etc. Colonel Tod's account of the stantly referring to dates, which transactions subsequent to the treaty coincide with those of events related is probably rectified from the Ma- by other authors. 628 AFFAIRS OF THE DECKAN RESUMED CHAPTER III FROM 1672 TO 1698 Affairs of the Deckan resumed — Sivaji's conquest from Bijapur — Is crowned at Raighar with additional solemnity — Makes an incursion into the Mogul territory, and first crosses the Nerbadda — Sivaji's expedition to the south of India, towards the end of A.D. 1676 — He takes Jinji and Vellor, and recovers all his father's jagir in Mysore — The Moguls, under Dilir Khan, invade Golconda — Lay siege to Bijapur, A.D. 1679 — Sivaji's son, Sambaji, deserts to the Moguls — He returns to his father — Siege of Bijapur raised — Death of Sivaji — His character — Unsuccessful attempt to set aside Sambaji — He is acknowledged raja — Sambaji's cruelty — His obstinacy in besieging Jinjera — Joined by Prince Akber — Plots against his authority — Executions — Gives him- self up to a favourite, Calusha — Fails at Jinjera — Decline of his affairs in the Deckan — Aurangzib arrives in the Deckan, A.D. 1683 — His views — His first operations, A.D. 1684 — Destruction of Prince Moazzim's army in the Concan — Invasion of Bijapur, A.D. 1685 — Sambaji ravages the country in the emperor's rear — Failure of the invasion of Bijapur, A.D. 1686 — Sambaji plunders Baroch — Aurangzib invades Golconda — Makes peace with the king — Aurangzib, in person, moves against Bijapur — Takes the capital and destroys the monarchy, Oct. 15, A.D. 1686 — Aurangzib breaks the peace with Golconda — Takes the capital and subverts the monarchy, September, A.D. 1687 — Imprisons Prince Moazzim — Effects of these conquests — Disordered state of the Deckan — Aurangzib takes possession of Bijapur and Golconda, as far as Tanjore, A.D. 1688 — Inactivity of Sambaji — Prince Akber goes to Persia — Sambaji made prisoner — Put to death, August, A.D. 1689 — Weakness of the Marattas — Aurangzib sends a detachment to besiege Raighar — Regency of Raja Ram — Raighar taken, A.D. 1690 — Raja Ram escapes to Jinji — Is proclaimed raja — System of defence adopted by the Marattas — Zulfikar Khan sent to reduce Jinji, 1691 — Marattas renew the war by desultory operations under independent leaders, A.D. 1692 — Comparison of the Mogul and Maratta armies — Siege of Jinji committed to Prince Cambakhsh, A.D. 1694 — Disgust of Zulfikar — He obstructs the siege — Santaji Gorpara advances to raise the siege, A.D. 1697 — Cambakhsh placed under restraint by Zulfikar — Retreat of the besiegers — Aurangzib cantons on the Bima — Releases Cambakhsh — Increased disaffection of Zulfikar — He renews the siege, but protracts the operation, A.D. 1697 — Resentment of the emperor —Jinji taken, A.D. 1698. THE continuance of this warfare did not prevent Aurangzib from turning all the resources he could command to the settlement of the Deckan, where many changes of moment had taken place, while he was engaged in other quarters. When his forces were first drawn off for the war with the Afghans (A.D. 1672), Khan Jehan, his general in the Deckan, found himself too weak to prosecute active hostilities against the Marattas ; and would probably have been unable to defend his own province, if their leader had been disposed to attack it. But while things'Vere in this position, the king of Bijapur died,1 and the state of discord into which his country fell 1 [Ali Adil Shah died in 1672, and was succeeded by his son, Sekandar, only five years old. — ED.] XI. 3 CORONATION OF SIVAJI 629 offered greater temptations to Sivaji than were presented by any attack on the Moguls. The part of Bijapur which most attracted him on this occasion was that on the sea, with the adjoining Ghats ; and in the course of the years 1673 and 1674 A.D., after a succession of battles and sieges, he made himself master of the whole of the southern Concan (except the points held by the English, Abyssinians, and Portuguese), and of a tract above the Ghats, extending farther to the east than the upper course of the Kishna. Though Sivaji had long borne the privileges of sovereignty, he conceived it suitable to the undertakings he had now in view to assume the exercise of them with greater solemnity than before. He was therefore again inaugurated at Raighar with all the ceremonies of a Mogul coronation ; including his being weighed in gold, and distributing rich presents to all around him. At the same time he changed the titles of his principal officers from Persian to Sanscrit ; and while he thenceforth assumed all the pomp of a Mahometan prince, he redoubled his attention to the duties of his religion, and affected greater scrupulosity than ever in food and other things connected with cast.2 The long period for which Sivaji had been employed in his conquests encouraged the Moguls to make an incursion into his possessions soon after this ceremony ; but they had reason to repent their temerity. Sivaji, without moving in person, sent detachments into the imperial territory ; and these bands took two forts, plundered the country to the heart of Khandesh and Berar, and even penetrated into Guzerat as far as Baroch, where for the first time they crossed the river Nerbadda. These incursions took place in 1675 ; and as he hoped they might induce the Moguls to refrain from disturbing him again, they left Sivaji at liberty to execute a design that had long occupied his thoughts. This was the recovery of his father's jagir, and a further extension of his conquests in the south of India. The jagir had hitherto remained in the hands of his younger brother, Vencaji, who held it under the nominal supremacy of the government of Bijapur. Sivaji was therefore now at liberty either to claim it as heir or to conquer it as an enemy ; and his views were particularly directed to it from his having lately been joined by Raghunath Narain, the Bramin who had formerly managed it on the part of Shahji, and had afterwards been minister to Vencaji until a recent quarrel. This man was useful to Sivaji, both from his knowledge and connexions. But as he could not safely set out on so remote 2 Mr. Oxendon, who was envoy much more splendid than would have from Bombay to Sivaji, was present been expected among early Marattas. at his coronation, and describes it as It took place on the 6th of June, 1674. 630 INVASION OF GOLCONDA A.D. 1676 A.H. 1088 an expedition without leaving a friend in his rear, he took advantage of the jealousy of Bijapur and fears of the Moguls entertained by the king of Golconda, and proposed an alliance to him against their common enemies. His overtures being encouraged, he marched for Golconda with an army of 30,000 horse and 40,000 infantry. He halted for some time at Golconda to make a definite settlement of his alliance ; when it was agreed that he was to share with the king whatever conquests he made beyond his father's jagir, and that the king was to supply him with a sum of money and a train of artillery, reserving all his other forces to keep the armies of Bijapur and the Moguls in check. Having thus secured his rear, Sivaji crossed the Kishna at Carnul, proceeded through Cadapa, and, passing close to Madras,3 presented himself before Jinji (Gingee), 600 miles from his own territories. Jinji was a strong and important hill-fort belonging to Bijapur, but was given up in consequence of a previous understanding with the commander. The heavy part of his army, which he had left behind, next laid siege to, and ultimately took, Vellor ; while Sivaji had a personal interview with his brother, and endea- voured to persuade him to give him a share of their father's possessions. Having failed in this negotiation, he took A'rni, and various other forts, and forcibly occupied the whole of Shahji's jagir in the Mysore. While thus employed, he heard of the invasion of Golconda by the Moguls and the government of Bijapur ; on which he marched off to the north, leaving his conquests in charge of his half-brother, Santa ji, who had joined him on his first arrival. As soon as Sivaji was out of reach, Vencaji made an attempt to recover his possessions ; and the dispute terminated in a compromise, by which Vencaji * was to retain the jagir, but pay half the revenue to Sivaji, who was to keep to himself the places which he had conquered from Bijapur. The king of Golconda had by this time come to a settlement with the Moguls ; and Sivaji, after conquering the districts of Belari and Adoni on his way, passed on to Raighar, which he reached after an absence of eighteen months. The invasion of Golconda was owing to a change in the policy of the Moguls. Khan Jehan had been removed, and succeeded by Dilir Khan, perhaps the best of Aurangzib's officers. His force was still small, but a considerable portion of his troops were Patans like himself, and he made up for all deficiencies by his own vigour and activity. The king of Bijapur was 3 First week of May, 1677. Wilks' Sing. Their disputes led to the first Mysore, from the " Madras Records." interference of the English in the * [Veiicaji's son, Tukaji, had two affairs of the Deckan, in 1749 : see sons, one legitimate named Sahaji, Mill, iii. 87, Duff's Mahrattas, i. 566. the other illegitimate named Pratap —ED.] XI. 3 DEATH OF SIVAJI 631 still a minor, and various revolutions had taken place among his ministers and guardians. Dilir formed a union with one of them, and made the above-mentioned attack on Golconda. The regent of Bijapur, who acted with him on that occasion, died soon after ; and Dilir, by supporting the claims of an Abyssinian, named Masaud, to succeed him, acquired a perfect ascendency in the councils of Bijapur. But Aurangzib, not satisfied with these advantages, sent down Prince Moazzim, as viceroy, to advance further demands, which Dilir, as general, was to enforce. In execution of this plan, Dilir renewed the war with Bijapur, and laid siege to the capital. The regent, in despair, had recourse to Sivaji, who, not finding himself strong enough to attack the besieging army, invaded and laid waste the Mogul territory with more than ordinary severity. He was nearly cut off on his retreat, or rather flight, from one of those inroads ; but, almost immediately afterwards, appeared in greater strength than ever, and took several forts from the Moguls. But Dilir Khan still persevered in the siege, and the regent, reduced to extremity, entreated Sivaji to come to his assistance before it was too late. Sivaji had set off for this purpose, when he was surprised by the intelligence that his son, Sambaji, had deserted to the Moguls. This young man, who had none of his father's qualities, except his courage, had given himself up to debauchery ; and having attempted to violate the wife of a Bramin, was imprisoned by Sivaji in one of his hill-forts. He now escaped from his place of confinement, and fled to Dilir, who received him with open arms, intending to make use of him among the Marattas as a counterpoise to his father. The embarrassment this occasioned to Sivaji was only temporary, for Aurangzib, disapproving of Dilir 's views, ordered Sambaji to be sent prisoner to his own camp ; and Dilir, whose honour was pledged for his safety, connived at his return to his father. Meanwhile the defence of Bijapur had surpassed expectation : Sivaji, as soon as he recovered from his first surprise, had renewed his exertions ; and Dilir Khan, finding his supplies cut off, was obliged to raise the siege. The price of Sivaji's alliance was a cession of the territory between the Tumbadra and Kishna, and of all the king's rights over the jagir of Shahji. This last acquisition gave him the right, as his successes did the power, of exercising a more effectual control over his brother ; and Vencaji's mortification at the change had led him to the thoughts of renouncing worldly affairs ; when all Sivaji's designs were cut short by an illness which carried him off on the 5th of April, 1680, in the fifty- third year of his age. Though the son of a powerful chief, he had begun life as a 632 SAMBAJI A.D. 1680, A.H. 1092 daring and artful captain of banditti, had ripened into a skilful general and an able statesman, and left a character which has never since been equalled or approached by any of his countrymen. The distracted state of the neighbouring countries presented openings by which an inferior leader might have profited ; but it required a genius like his to avail himself as he did of the mistakes of Aurangzib, by kindling a zeal for religion and, through that, a national spirit among the Marattas. It was by these feelings that his government was upheld after it passed into feeble hands, and was kept together, in spite of numerous internal disorders, until it had established its supremacy over the greater part of India. Though a predatory war, such as he conducted, must necessarily inflict extensive misery, his enemies bear witness to his anxiety to mitigate the evils of it by humane regulations, which were strictly enforced. His devotion latterly degenerated into extravagances of superstition and austerity, but seems never to have obscured his talents or soured his temper.4 When Samba ji returned from the Mogul camp, he was again placed in confinement at Panalla, and was there when his father died. This circumstance, and some expressions of uneasiness which had fallen from Sivaji regarding the future conduct of his eldest son, offered a pretext for alleging that he designed the succession for the second, Raja Ram, a boy of ten years old. The intrigues of this young prince's mother gained acceptance to the story ; and the Bramin ministers, who dreaded Sambaji's violence, and looked with pleasure to a long minority, affected to receive it as authentic, and sent orders for the close arrest of Sambaji, concealing Sivaji's death till that object should be accomplished. But Sambaji, who was a prisoner at large within Panalla, contrived to get possession of the secret, and announced his own accession to the garrison, who immediately acknowledged his authority. He did not at first venture out of his stronghold, but the public opinion was favourable to his right ; the Bramin ministers fell out among themselves ; a force that was sent to besiege him was gained over to his interest, and he at length made his entry into Raighar as undisputed sovereign (June, 1680). His prudence, up to this time, had gone far to remove the [Aurangzib did not attempt to destroy the ancient sovereignties of conceal either his own satisfaction at India. My armies have been em- Sivaji's death or the merits of the foe. ployed against him for nineteen years, " He was," he said, " a great captain, and nevertheless his state has been and the only one who has had the always increasing." (Orme's Fray- magnanimity to raise a new kingdom ments.) — ED.] while I have been endeavouring to XI. 3 THE KING'S CRUELTIES 633 prejudice entertained against him, but the favourable im- pression was effaced by his cruelties after his accession. He put the widow of Sivaji to a painful and lingering death ; he imprisoned her son, Raja Ram ; threw the Bramin ministers who had been most active against him into irons, and beheaded such of his other enemies as were not protected by the sanctity of their class. The same prevalence of passion over policy appeared in his foreign proceedings. Sivaji had always been in a state of hostility with the Abyssinians of Jin j era, and had occasionally made great efforts to reduce them. Samba ji's first operations were against these people ; and as they were near neighbours to his capital, he took a personal interest in the war, and for a long time gave up his whole thoughts to subduing them, as if he had no other enemy in the world. He was not diverted from this pursuit even by the arrival of Prince Akber in his camp (June, 1681). He received the prince with honour, and acknowledged him as emperor, yet showed no intention of rendering his pretensions useful by supporting them against Aurangzib. The arrival of Akber suggested to the party still secretly opposed to Samba ji the possibility of obtaining his sanction to the claim of Raja Ram. Their plot was soon discovered ; many of their leaders were trampled to death by elephants, and among the sufferers was one of the chief Bramin ministers, whose eminent services to Sivaji seemed to protect him from capital punishment almost as much as his sacred order. The disaffection to Samba ji's government produced by these executions was increased by other causes. He neglected or persecuted his father's ministers ; while he threw his own affairs, without reserve, into the hands of Calusha, a Bramin from Hindostan, who had gained his favour by encouraging his vices, as well as by his insinuating manners and superficial accomplishments . With the aid of this counsellor he eagerly prosecuted his operations against Jinjera (A.D. 1682). He endeavoured to construct a mound to connect the island with the mainland, and he afterwards attempted an assault by means of boats. All his exertions were in vain ; and when he was constrained to raise the siege, the Abyssinians increased his mortification by sallying out and plundering his villages. They soon after injured him still more sensibly by entirely defeating his fleet at sea. Exasperated by these affronts, he charged the Euro- peans settled on the coast with having contributed to produce them : he began hostilities in person against the Portuguese, with whom Sivaji had also been at war, and nearly proceeded to the same extremity with the English, although they had 634 AURANGZIB'S MISTAKE A.D. 1683, A.H. 1095 hitherto always been treated as friends. These petty operations were interrupted by attacks from the Moguls, the precursors of the appearance of Aurangzib. Samba ji's chiefs had not been entirely inactive in the Deckan during his own occupation with the Abyssinians ; but great relaxation had been introduced into discipline, and it was increased, along with all other disorders, by the habits to which the raja had given himself up. His whole time was spent in idleness and debauchery ; the vast treasures left by Sivaji were soon dissipated ; and, although Calusha added to the general disaffection by increasing the land revenue, the income of the state was inadequate to its expenditure. The troops, left long in arrears, appropriated the plunder taken on expeditions to their own use, and degenerated from the comparatively regular bands of Sivaji into the hordes of rapacious and destructive freebooters which they have ever since remained. By this time Aurangzib had made his treaty with the rana of Oudipur ; and, after leaving a detachment to ravage the Jodpur territory, moved with the whole force of his empire to the conquest of the Deckan. It would appear to have been sound policy for Aurangzib to have combined with the kings of Bijapur and Golconda in putting down Samba ji, and restoring the tranquillity of the Deckan ; but he, perhaps, thought that those monarchs were more jealous of him than of the Marattas, and would not sincerely unite with him, so that Samba ji would never want a retreat while they had dominions in which to harbour him. It is at least as probable that the acquisition of the kingdoms of Bijapur and Golconda was Aurangzib's primary object, and that he judged the reduction of Samba ji to be a necessary consequence of success in his other more important undertaking. He had seen with pleasure the wars of those kings with each other and with the Marattas, had fomented their internal disorders, and seemed so far blinded as to think that everything that threw the Deckan into confusion must turn to his advantage. His first advance was to Burhanpur, where he made a long halt, as he afterwards did at Aurangabad. He was occupied during those periods on political and financial arrangements ; and, by a sort of infatuation, he took this occasion to enforce the strict exaction of the jizya, which the common-sense of his officers had led them to avoid. Before he had left Burhanpur, he sent Prince Azam with a considerable force to reduce the hill-forts near the junction of the Chandor range with the Ghats ; and Prince Moazzim, with a still larger one, to overrun the Concan, and penetrate to the south of Samba ji's country, and the borders of that XI. 3 INVASION OF BIJAPtJR 635 of Bijapur. It is as difficult to see any general design in the employment of these armies as to understand the principles on which their operations were conducted. The strong fort of Saler was given up by previous concert to Prince Azam, and this petty intrigue may have tempted Aurangzib to detach a force to this unconnected point ; but to send a large army of cavalry 5 among the rocks and thickets of the Concan, where there were no roads, no forage, and no field for the employment of horse, shows a want of judgment that it is quite impossible to explain. Moazzim marched the whole length of the Concan unopposed ; yet by the time he got to the neighbourhood of Goa, he had lost almost the whole of his horses and cattle, and even his men began to suffer from scarcity. The pressure was increased by Sambaji, who stopped up the Ghats, while his cruisers cut off the vessels that were sent with supplies by sea ; and Moazzim thought himself fortunate when he was able to emerge into the country above the Ghats with the remains of his dismounted army. He was pursued by the effects of an unwholesome climate and unusual food, and lost a great portion of his men by an epidemic which broke out at Walwa, near Mirich, on the Kishna, where he encamped for the period of the rains. When the season opened he was directed to enter the territory of Bijapur from the south-west, so as to co-operate with Prince Azam, who, after failing in his expedition against the forts, was despatched with a powerful army to invade Bijapur ; while Aurangzib himself advanced to Ahmednagar, leaving a reserve under Khan Jehan at Aurangabad. This movement gave Sambaji an opportunity to retaliate the invasion of his country. He gradually assembled a body of horse in the north of the Concan, behind the right flank of Aurangzib's armies, which from thence moved rapidly along their rear, sacked and burned the great city of Burhanpur, and then drew off again to the Concan, leaving all the country through which it had passed in a blaze. So secret as well as rapid were the movements of this body, that Khan Jehan, marching on a point where he thought to intercept it, found himself entirely off the line of its retreat. Meanwhile Prince Azam had taken Solapur, and was advancing towards Bijapur ; but he found himself unable to cope with the army that was sent out to oppose him, and was compelled to retreat beyond the Bima ; while Moazzim, too weak to attempt any movement by himself, was obliged to wait for reinforcements, by which he was escorted to Ahmed- nagar with the wreck of his fine army. 5 Orme says 40,000. 636 WAR WITH GOLCONDA A.D. 1686, A.H. 1098 After these failures Aurangzib advanced in person to Sola- pur, and sent on Prince Azam with his army reinforced : although the distance was so short, the Bijapur troops cut off the prince's supplies, and would have destroyed his army if a large convoy of grain had not been skilfully conducted into his camp by Ghazi ud din.6 The impression he made was still small, until Aurangzib, at a later period, moved on to the siege in person. It was in the present stage of the war that the Marattas, seeing the Moguls drawn off to the south, made another bold inroad into the territory in their rear, plundered the city of Baroch, and retreated after ravaging the adjoining part of Guzerat. It is not clear whether Sambaji sent out this expedition from motives of his own, or in concert with the Deckan kings. He had about this time entered into a defensive alliance with the king of Golconda ; and on this fact becoming known to Aurangzib, he did not allow his attention to be drawn off to Sambaji, but immediately made it a ground of quarrel with Golconda, and sent an army to invade that kingdom. From his usual distrust of powerful armies and great commanders, the force he sent was insufficient ; and ere long he was constrained to send his son, Prince Moazzim, with a large body of troops, to support the first army, and take the command of the whole. The government of Golconda was in a very different state from the distracted condition of Bijapur. The king, Abul Hasan, though indolent and voluptuous, was popular ; and his government and finances were ably conducted by Madna Pant, a Bramin, to whom he wisely gave his full confidence. But the exclusive employment of this minister was odious to the Mussulmans, and especially to Ibrahim Khan, the commander-in-chief, into whose hands the power would probably have fallen under any different arrangement. When Moazzim drew near, this man deserted to him with the greater part of his army. Madna Pant was murdered in a simultaneous tumult in the city ; the king fled to the hill-fort of Golconda, and Heiderabad was seized and plundered for three successive days. Moazzim did his best to check this breach of discipline ; and it gave the utmost displeasure to the emperor, not so much from humanity, or even policy, as on account of the quantity of treasure lost to the crown, which he violently suspected that Moazzim had embezzled for his own ambitious purposes, as he himself had done on a similar occasion under Shah Jehan. Having thus effectually crippled the king of Golconda, he granted him 6 The ancestor of the present Nizam. XI. 3 FALL OF BIJAPtfR 637 peace for a great pecuniary payment, and turned his whole forces to the reduction of Bijapur. The army of that monarchy appears at this time to have melted away ; for, although the walls of the city are six miles in circumference, Aurangzib was able to invest it completely, while he employed a portion of his army on a regular attack and breach. So well was the blockade kept up, that by the time the breach was practicable the town was distressed for provisions ; and as the garrison, though small, was composed of Patans. it was thought prudent to give them favourable terms. Aurangzib entered the place on a portable throne through the breach, the young king was made prisoner,7 and Bijapur, ceasing to be a capital, was soon reduced to the deserted condition in which it now stands.8 No sooner had Bijapur fallen than Aurangzib determined to break the peace with Golconda ; and the means he employed were as base as the design was perfidious. He drew his army near on pretext of a pilgrimage, and he obtained jewels and gifts of all sorts from the unfortunate king, anxious at any cost to purchase his friendship, or at least his compassion ; but during all this interval he was intriguing with the ministers of Golconda, and debauching the troops ; and when his plot was ripe for execution, he published a manifesto denouncing the king as a protector of infidels, and soon after laid siege to his fort. From this moment Abul Hasan seemed to cast aside his effeminacy ; and, though deserted by his troops, he bravely defended Golconda for seven months, till it also was given up by treachery ; and he then bore his misfortunes with a dignity and resignation that has endeared his memory to his subjects and their descendants even to this day. During this siege, the unsleeping suspicions^ of Aurangzib 7 [Grant Duff says that the young mosque is a grand edifice, and the prince was kept a close prisoner in the tomb of Ibrahim Adil Shah, already Moghul camp for three years, when he mentioned, is remarkable for its died suddenly, not without suspicion elegant and graceful architecture ; of having been poisoned by Aurang- but the chief feature in the scene is zib. Mr. Morley (Catalogue, p. 78) the mausoleum of Mohummud Adil says that he died in 1699. — ED.] Shah, the dome of which fills the eye ' The walls, which are of hewn from every point of view ; and, stone, and very lofty, are to this day though in itself entirely devoid of entire, and, being surmounted by the ornament, its enormous dimensions f-upolas and minarets of public build- and austere simplicity invest it with ings, still present to the spectator, an air of melancholy grandeur, whicli from without, the appearance of a harmonizes with the wreck and deso- flourishing city ; but within, all is lation that surround it." (Grant solitude, silence, and desolation. The Duff, vol. i. p. 340.) One is at a loss, deep moat, the double rampart, and on seeing these ruins, to conjecture the ruins of the splendid palaces in how so small a state could have main- the citadel attest the former magni- tained such a capital, ficence of the court. The great 638 STATE OF THE DECKAN A.D. 1686, A.H. 1098 were stirred up by some indiscreet communications between Abul Hasan and Prince Moazzim. The object of this inter- course was to procure the prince's intercession with his father ; but to Aurangzib it appeared to afford a confirmation of all his former surmises, and he lost no time in securing Moazzim, who remained in more or less strict confinement for nearly seven years. Moazzim seems never to have given any cause for these alarms. All accounts give him credit for caution and moderation. Bernier says no slave could be more obedient, or seem more devoid of ambition: he, however, hints that his was rather too like Aurangzib's own conduct in his youth, and perhaps the same reflection may have occurred to the emperor.9 Aurangzib had now attained the summit of his wishes, but had sown a harvest of which he and his posterity were to reap the bitter produce. The governments which in some degree kept up order in the Deckan being annihilated, the frame of society which depended on them was dissolved, and the scattered material remained as elements of discord. Though the Patans and foreign mercenaries may have obtained service with the emperor, the rest of the troops of both armies were obliged to join Sambaji, or to plunder on their own account. The distant zemindars seized every opportunity to make themselves independent, and, among all the wars and robberies to which they betook themselves, were always ready to befriend the Marattas, whom they looked on as the patrons of anarchy : those most within reach of the Moguls were disaffected to their conquerors ; and from this motive, and the new-born feeling of religious opposition, were always ready to assist their enemies ; so that, in spite of a short gleam of prosperity after the fall of Golconda, Aurangzib might date from that event a train of vexations and disasters which followed him to the grave. He was not remiss in taking advantage of his present good fortune. He took possession of all the territories of Bijapur and Golconda, even their latest southern conquests : 10 he seized on Shahji's jagir in the Mysore, confining Ve"ncaji to Tanjore, and compelling the Marattas in Sivaji's late ac- quisitions to fly to their forts. But in all these countries he had little more than a military occupation : the districts were farmed to the desmukhs and other zemindars, and were governed by military leaders, who received 25 per cent, for the expense of collecting, and who sent up the balance, after paying their troops, to the king ; unless, as often happened, 9 Bernier, vol. i. p. 120. 10 [Ghazi ud din was left as governor of the Deokan. — ED.] XI. 3 PRINCE AKBER IN PERSIA 639 assignments were made for a period of years on fixed districts for the payment of other chiefs.* During all these great events Samba ji remained in a state of personal inertness, ascribed by the Maratta historians to the enchantments of Calusha, but naturally explained by the stupor and mental debility produced by a course of drunkenness and debauchery. Prince Akber, disgusted with his manners, and hoping nothing from such an ally, quitted his court and repaired to Persia, where he lived till A.D. 1706. The chiefs exerted themselves individually against the Moguls, notwithstanding the inefficiency of their raja ; but, in spite of their resistance, the open country belonging to the Marattas was gradually taken possession of, and Aurangzib was preparing for a systematic attack on the forts, when the activity of one of his officers unexpectedly threw his principal enemy into his hands. Sambaji was enjoying himself, with a small party of attendants, in a favourite pleasure-house, at Sangameswar in the Concan, when intelligence of his unguarded situation was brought to Tokarrab Khan, the Mogul officer at Colapur.11 Though this place is only fifty or sixty miles from Sangameswar, it is separated from it by the range of Ghats ; and as Tokarrab Khan was only a governor of a district, his neighbourhood (if it could so be called) gave little uneasiness to Sambaji or those about him. Being an active and enterprising soldier, he set off with a small body of troops, and took his measures so well that he reached Sangameswar before his march was suspected. Sambaji might still have escaped, for, before his house was surrounded, some of his followers ran in with information of the arrival of the Moguls ; but Sambaji was in a state of intoxication, and replied by threatening them with punishment for such insulting intelligence. Soon after, Tokarrab made his appearance ; most of the attendants fled ; Calusha was wounded in endeavouring to save his master ; and both were made prisoners, and sent in triumph to the imperial head-quarters.12 * [" The operations of the Moguls establishment of the British empire, in the Deckan, although they broke — ED.] to pieces the consistency of both the n Grant Duff. From a letter in Mohammedan and Hindu principali- the Rakdimi Kardim (the forty-first ties, substituted no paramount in the India House copy) it appears authority in their place, and fur- that the plan originated with Aurang- nished an opportunity and example zib himself, and was executed in strict to adventurers of all classes to conformity to his orders. Tokarrab, scramble for power, annihilating all by that letter, seems to have been right except that of the sword." besieging Parnala. (Wilson's note, Mill's History, iv. 92.) 12 Calusha is generally, but erro- Hence the anarchy, which opened the neously, believed to have betrayed way for the contentions of the English his master, and the French, and the ultimate 640 "THE GREAT MOGUL" A.D. 1689, A.H. 1101 They were led through the camp on camels, amidst the din of drums and other noisy instruments, and surrounded by an innumerable multitude who flocked to see their dreaded enemy : and, after being exhibited before Aurangzib, they were ordered into confinement. Aurangzib probably intended to spare his prisoner, for a time at least, as an instrument for gaining possession of his forts ; but Sambaji, now roused to a sense of his degradation, courted death, and replied to an invita- tion to become a Mussulman by language so insulting to the emperor, and so impious towards his prophet, that an order was given for his immediate execution. The sentence was probably issued on the ground of blasphemy ; for it was attended with studied barbarity, very unlike the usual practice of Aurangzib. His eyes were first destroyed with a hot iron, his tongue was cut out, and he was at last beheaded along with his favourite, Calusha. Though his person had been despised by the Marattas. his fate was pitied and resented ; and the indignation and religious hatred of the nation was raised to a higher pitch than ever. Strong as was the animosity of the Marattas, their chance of resistance appeared to be very small. The overwhelming force of Aurangzib, his personal reputation, even the pomp and grandeur which surrounded him, and the very name of the Great Mogul, struck them with an awe which they had not experienced in their former wars with his lieutenants. Their weakness became more conspicuous when Aurangzib, remaining himself near Puna, sent a force to lay siege to their capital of Raighar. The principal chiefs had assembled there on the death of Sambaji, had acknowledged his infant son, afterwards called Saho, as raja, and had nominated his uncle, Raja Ram, to be regent. They then, after providing the fortress with a garrison and provisions, withdrew with the regent, to be ready for any service that might arise. Raighar held out for several months, until a secret ascent was disclosed to the Moguls by a Mawali chief, whom some personal disgust, combined with the general despondency, induced to this act of treason.13 The infant raja was now in the hands of the enemy, and it was resolved 13 It seems unaccountable that prised from over-confidence in the these forts, which, at some times, strength of the place, and sudden are taken by a dozen at a time, at despair when they find difficulties others held out for years against overcome which they thought insur- well-equipped armies : but they are mountable. When such forts are in often ill-garrisoned, and without good order, with properly prepared provisions ; the garrison is often paid garrisons and stores, it requires all by lands which lie under the fort, and the military resources and active make them dependent on the enemy : courage of Europeans to make an even good garrisons are often stir- impression on them. XI. 3 THE MARATTAS A NATION 641 that the regent, instead of exposing to risk the last representa- tive of Sivaji, should withdraw to the distant fortress of Jinji in the Carnatic ; while his forts in the Deckan were to be put in a good state of defence, and his troops dispersed in their villages, ready to profit by better times. Raja Ram accordingly proceeded with a few followers in disguise through the hostile provinces between him and Jinji. When he reached that place, he proclaimed his arrival, and assumed the title of raja, on the ground of the captivity of his nephew. He was fortunate in an adviser in Prillad, one of the Bramin ministers, who had sufficient talents to gain an ascendency over the other ministers and chiefs, and judgment to see that it was not desirable, even if it had been practicable, to do more than give a common scope to the general efforts. Without the pervading genius of Sivaji, the Marattas would never have been formed into a nation ; but now, when all were animated by one spirit, the nature of the people, and their mode of war, required that it should be left to operate by individual exertions. The plan best adapted to them was, to bend before a blow, to offer nothing tangible for the enemy to attack, and to return to the charge with undiminished vigour whenever it suited them to take the part of assailants. Accordingly, their chiefs who were in possession of lands lost no time in making their submission to the Mogul, and none were louder in professions of zeal and attachment than they ; but they almost all kept up a communication with the rebels, allowed their retainers to join them, even sent parties secretly, under their own relations, to share in plundering expeditions, and did more mischief as spies and hollow confederates than they could have done as open enemies. The soldiers also, when they had no efficient government or regular treasury to look to, formed each his own plan for his individual profit. The thirst for plunder was always the strongest passion of the nation, from the first robbers under Sivaji to the most opulent times of the monarchy. Their only word for a victory is, " to plunder the enemy " ; and though they readily combine for common objects, yet even then the mass is moved by each man's eagerness for his separate booty. When this spirit was called into activity, it required but a moderate interference on the part of the government to give it a direction that rendered it more formidable than the courage of disciplined armies. When the Maratta government appeared to have been expelled from the Deckan, Aurangzib despatched Zulfikar Khan, the son of Assad Khan, who had distinguished himself (the capture of Raighar, to give it its deathblow by the " 642 GHAS DANA A.D. 1691, A.H. 1103 reduction of Jinji.14 Zulfikar, on his arrival, found that bis force, though considerable, was not sufficient to reduce or even to invest the place. He applied to Aurangzib for reinforcements, and in the meantime employed part of his army in levying contributions on Tanjore 15 and other southern countries. Aurangzib was in no condition to furnish the reinforcements desired. He had sent his son Cambakhsh, with an army, to reduce Wakinkera, a fort not far from Bijapur, which, though only held by the head of one of the predatory tribes of the Deckan, was strong enough to baffle all his efforts. A still greater demand for troops was created by the re-appear- ance of the Marattas themselves. No sooner was Raja Ram settled in Jinji than he despatched his two most active chiefs, Santaji Gorpara and Danaji Jadu, to make a diversion in his own country. Before they arrived, some bands of discharged Bijapur troops had begun to plunder on their own account ; and as soon as these well-known leaders made their appearance, Maratta horsemen issued from every village, and flocked to join their standards. Ram Chander Pant, who was left at Sattara, in the civil charge of what little territory remained to the Marattas, had assembled some troops within his own districts : and by appealing to the predatory spirit before adverted to, he now called a new and most efficient army at once into existence. His plan was, to confer on every man of influence amongst the soldiery a right to levy the chout, and other claims on the Maratta government, on all places not in its possession, and to plunder and lay waste every country that refused this tribute. The contributions were to go to the payment of the troops, the booty to the actual captors ; and each chief was authorized to impose, for his personal benefit, a new exaction, called glids ddna, or corn and hay money. This invitation put every horseman in the country in motion. Most of the principal Maratta names appear (and many for the first time) as leaders of independent parties of various strength, which set out to enrich themselves at the expense of the Mogul's subjects ; sometimes each acting singly, and sometimes with a general concert, and fixed plans for rendezvous and retreat. The armies of Santaji and Danaji, though under the control of those chiefs, acted much on the same system : 14 [" Aurangzib, after the reduction absence occasioned in the government of Bijapur and Haiderabad, and the of Hindostan, and would frequently taking of Samba, remained to finish say to his confidants in private, ' My some objects which then appeared disloyal subjects have imposed this easily attainable, but afterwards plaything upon me that they may extended in such a chain that he enjoy commands and honours.' ' could not quit the Deckan for the rest (Irddat Khan. p. 57.) — ED.] of his life. He often lamented the 1S Called by the Marattas " Chan- necessity of the relaxation which his clawar." XI. 3 THE MOGULS AS WARRIORS 643 the Mara tt as spread, at once, in all directions, and the whole Deckan was filled with fire and rapine, terror and confusion. It was now that the Mogul and Maratta systems of war were fairly brought into competition, and it soon appeared with which side the advantage lay. The long tranquillity and mild government and manners established by Akber, and the greater mixture with the Hindus, first began to soften the character of the northern conquerors of India. The negligence of Jehangir's reign, and the internal quiet of Shah Jehan's, were respectively unfavourable to discipline and to military spirit ; and, by the time we are speaking of, both were very sensibly impaired. The nobles had far advanced towards the sloth and effeminacy for which they have since been noted, and even those who retained their energy were unsuited to active service. They all went into the field in coats of wadding, that would resist a sword, and over that chain or plate armour ; and were mounted on large and showy horses, with huge saddles, and ample housings of cloth or velvet, from which many streamers of different-coloured satin, and often pairs of the bushy ox-tails of Tibet, hung down on each side. The horse's neck, and all the harness, were loaded with chains, bells, and ornaments of the precious metals ; and as each soldier imitated his superior, so far as his means would admit, they formed a cavalry admirably fitted to prance in a procession, and not ill-adapted to a charge in a pitched battle, but not capable of any long exertion, and still less of any continuance of fatigue and hardship. To their individual inefficiency was added a total relaxation of discipline. In spite of all Aurangzib's boasted vigilance, the grossest abuses had crept into the military department. Many officers only kept up half the number of their men, and others filled the ranks with their menials and slaves. Such comrades corrupted the soldiers by their example, and ex- tinguished spirit by degrading the military character. The indulgence and connivance necessary for chiefs so conscious of their own delinquencies completed the ruin of their troops. They could neither be got to keep watch nor to remain alert on picket ; and their sluggish habits would have prevented them ever turning out on an emergency, even if the time required to adjust their bulky housings and heavy defensive armour had not put it out of the question.16 The emperor's camp-equipage was in all the pomp of 16 " The Frenchman praised the pay when they failed to do either." high pay and said the service was (Gemelli Carreri in Churchill's Collec- diversion ; nobody would fight or tion, vol. iv. See also the Bondela keep watch, and only forfeited a day's Narrative in Scott's Deckan, vol. li.) 644 THE MARATTAS AS MEN OF WAR peaceful times. Each nobleman endeavoured to imitate this magnificence ; even private soldiers attended to comfort in their tents, and the line of march presented a long train of elephants, camels, carts, and oxen, mixed up with a crowd of camp-followers, women of all ranks, merchants, shopkeepers, servants, cooks, and all kinds of ministers of luxury, amounting to ten times the number of the fighting men. This unwieldy host soon ate up a country, and the people suffered further from the insolence and licence of the soldiery.17 The Marattas, as has been said, were little, active men, accustomed to hard work and hard fare. Their usual food was a cake of millet, with perhaps an onion ; their dress a small turban, tight breeches covering their thighs, and a scarf or sash rolled round their middle. When their body was not bare, it was covered by a light cotton tunic. Their arms were a sword and a matchlock, but oftener a bamboo spear thirteen or fourteen feet long, the national weapon, which they used with extraordinary skill. Their horses were those of their own country, small, strong, and active, capable of enduring great fatigue, and taught to bound forward, or stop, or to wheel round when at full speed, on the slightest pressure from their rider's leg. They had a pad for a saddle, with a blanket folded over it. When stationary, few except the chiefs had tents ; and on their inroads, each man slept on the ground, with his spear stuck by him and his bridle tied to his arm, ready to leap on horseback on the slightest alarm of the approach of an enemy. An assemblage of such troops never stood the heavy charge of a body of Moguls, but dispersed at once and scampered off singly to the nearest hills or broken ground. If the enemy left their ranks to pursue them, they cut off single horsemen, or rapidly assembled behind a ravine, or in some other situation where it was not safe for small parties to attack them ; and when the disheartened pursuers turned back, with their horses exhausted, the Marattas were upon them in a moment, charged in on them if there was an opening or confusion, but generally hung loosely on their flanks and rear, sometimes dashing up singly, to fire their matchlocks into the mass, or even to despatch a . straggler with their long spears. Their chief excellence, as well as their delight, was in the plunder of a convoy. The favour of the country-people gave them full information, while 17 Gemelli Carreri saw Aurangzib's tents occupied a space of upwards of cantonment at Galgala (March, 1695). three miles in circumference, and He describes it as an enormous as- were fortified with a ditch, palisades, semblage, said greatly to exceed a and falconets, million. The king's and princes' XT. 3 SIEGE OF JINJT 645 it kept the Moguls in darkness, till they were suddenly assailed on the line of march, and saw the camels and cattle, carrying the grain and stores they were escorting, swept off in a moment. They would then form a compact body, to protect those which were carrying treasure ; but, with such a prize before them, the Marattas were irresistible : the party were generally obliged to take post ; the Marattas cut off the communications, and perhaps even the water ; and, at the end of a day or two, the Moguls were obliged to surrender ; the men were stripped of their horses and their valuables, and the chiefs detained for a ransom. As Aurangzib drew a great proportion of his recruits and treasures from Hindostan, Santaji and Danaji threw themselves between his army and that country. They intercepted several convoys, defeated more than one detachment, and gained such a superiority that the Moguls began to change theii contempt for them into fear and dread. In this state of discouragement, Aurangzib perceived the necessity of adopting some measure which, if it did not bring the war to an end, might recover his reputation, and restore the spirit of his troops. He resolved on the vigorous • prosecution of the operations against Jinji : he had withdrawn Cambakhsh from Wakinkera, and he now sent that prince with a fresh army to assume the conduct of the siege ; but, according to his usual practice, he appointed Assad Khan, the father of Zulfikar Khan, to serve with him, and committed the real direction of all operations to those noblemen. This arrangement disgusted both parties : the prince was displeased at the little solid authority entrusted to him, and the others thought it hard that Zulfikar should be deprived of the dignity of the command and the honour of the victory.18 So completely was Zulfikar led away by his resentment, that he listened to overtures from the Maratta Bramins (ever on the watch to profit by such dissensions), and, by indecisive operations on his own part, as well as by affording intelligence to the enemy, he enabled them to spin out the siege for no less than three years. At the end of that time Santaji Gorpara resolved on a bold attempt to relieve his raja. Leaving the rest of the Maratta hordes to keep Aurangzib in occupation, he called in Danaji J4du, and set off for Jinji with 20,000 of their best cavalry. He passed rapidly through the intervening country, and came on the besieging army with such celerity that, before they could arrange their cumbrous body for mutual support, his advance had surprised one of their divisions, plundered its 18 Grant Duff; Khafi Khan; and the Bond&a Narrative in Scott's Dcckan, 646 CAMBAKHSH A.D. 1697, A.H. 1109 tents, and made the commander prisoner ; and he himself im- mediately after defeated a considerable body of troops sent out in haste to oppose him. He then drove in the outposts, destroyed the foragers, and cut off all supplies and intelligence from the camp. He next circulated reports of the emperor's death, which were easily believed in such a moment of calamity ; and, under favour of that rumour, he made proposals to Cam- bakhsh to support his claim to the throne. Cambakhsh, who seems to have apprehended sinister designs on the part of Assad and Zulfikar, gave ear to these communications, while his intercourse with the enemy in like manner alarmed those officers. One night Cambakhsh ordered his immediate con- tingent to get under arms, and the two generals, assuming (whether justly or otherwise) that this was a direct attempt to go over to the Marattas, immediately placed the prince under restraint.19 This step increased the alarms and dis- sensions in the army to such a pitch, that they were soon compelled to blow up their cannon, abandon their batteries, and concentrate on one spot, where they entrenched themselves, and were besieged in their turn. At length an agreement was entered into between the parties ; the Moguls were to be allowed to withdraw about twenty miles to Vandiwash, and were there to await the further orders of the emperor. On the first advance of Cambakhsh and Assad Khan, Aurangzib had moved southward, and cantoned at Galgala, on the Kishna. In the next year he retired to Birmapuri, near Panderpur, on the Bima, where he erected a permanent cantonment, and remained for several years. He now made a movement to Bijapur, and at the same time sent orders expressing his total disapprobation of the proceedings of his generals. He directed Cambakhsh to be sent up to court, and received him with marked kindness : 20 at the same time he recalled Assad Khan, but, with unaccountable inconsistency, left the sole command of the army to Zulfikar Khan, whom, though the ablest of his officers, he could not now expect to find the best affected. The war, when renewed, assumed a desultory character. Zulfikar levied contributions at Tanjore ; and Santaji totally destroyed a very strong Mogul detachment, under an officer of rank and reputation, near Chitaldrug in the Mysore : other conflicts took place with various success, in different parts of the country ; but the general result must have been favourable to the Moguls. 19 Report of Assad and Zulfikar to i Kardim ; also Grant Duff, Khafi Aurangzib, quoted by the emperor in Khan, and Bondela Narrative. the forty-seventh note of the Rakdim 20 Forty-eighth and forty -ninth notes of the Rakdim i Kardim, XI. 4 JINJI TAKEN 647 as they were able, in the end, to resume the siege of Jinji. During the operations in the field, Zulfikar performed the part of a zealous and able officer ; but, on recommencing the siege, he renewed his intercourse with the Marattas, and evidently made it his object to protract the fall of the place.21 But it was difficult to carry on such practices under a prince of Aurangzib's penetration ; and, in the course of the next year, Zulfikar found that he must either take Jinji or expect to be recalled in disgrace. He performed a last act of friendship in advising Raja Ram to escape ; and then, prosecuting his operations with vigour and in earnest, he before long made himself master of the fortress. CHAPTER IV FROM 1698 TO THE DEATH OF AUEANGZIB Dissensions among the Marattas — Murder of Santaji Gorpara — Raja Ram takes the field in person — New plan of Aurangzib : a besieging and pursuing army — Exhaustion of the Moguls — Sieges by the emperor in person — Takes Sattara, April, A.D. 1700 — Death of Raja Ram — Aurangzib goes on taking forts — Spirit and perseverance of Aurangzib — Difficulties and hardships to which he was exposed — His indefatigable industry — His attention to details — His distrust of all around him — His management of his sons and courtiers — Increased disorders of the state — Successes of the Marattas — They beein to recover their forts — Exhausted state of the army — Disorder of the finances — Grand army hard pressed by the Marattas — Retreats to Ahmednagar — Declining health of the emperor — His fears of encountering the fate of Shah Jehan — His suspicions of his sons — His alarms at the approach of death — His death and character — His letters — Miscellaneous transactions. THE unexpected recovery of Zulfikar's strength, which had put it in his power to renew the siege, was probably occasioned by dissensions among the Marattas, which now broke into an open quarrel. Danaji Jadu had fallen out with Santaji, and had received the support of the raja, who was jealous of the renown of the latter chief ; and as Santaji was unpopular, in consequence of his attempts to keep up discipline, a party was formed in his own camp, he was compelled to fly, and was 21 All Zulfikar's intrigues with the but the Bondela accuses Zufikar of enemy appear from Maratta MSS. purposely prolonging the war. His referred to by Captain Grant Duff, object, probably, was to retain his and are asserted (probably on similar large command and important posi- authority procured at Mysore) by tion until the death of the emperor, Colonel Wilks. They are unknown which his very advanced age made to the writers on the Mogul side ; men expect to lie of early occurrence 648 RAJA RAM DEAD A.D. 1.698, A.H. 1110 at length overtaken and put to death on the spot.* Before this catastrophe. Raja Ram had established his residence at Sattara, and he now assumed the active control of the whole government. He took the field himself, at the head of the largest Maratta army that had ever yet been assembled, and, proceeding to the north of the Godaveri, levied the chout and other dues on such places as submitted, and ravaged the rest as far as Jalna in Berar. At this point his progress was checked in consequence of a change in the system of the Moguls. Hitherto Aurangzib had, for the most part, had his head- quarters at Birmapuri, sometimes sending a detachment under his son, Prince Azam, to reduce a hill-fort or repel an incursion, but generally trusting the defence of the country to detachments stationed at different parts of it. At present his plan was to bring his whole force into efficiency, by leading one part, in person, against the enemy's forts ; while another, under Zulfikar Khan, nominally commanded by one of his grandsons, should pursue their field armies wherever they might direct their course. Had this plan been earlier adopted, it might have been attended with success ; but disturbances had reached too great a height to be put down by any merely military dispositions. Although Zulfikar Khan began by driving back Raja Ram, as has been mentioned, and during the succeeding years repeatedly defeated the Marattas, and in some degree restored the courage of the Mussulmans, yet he found himself, at the end of that time, in a worse situation than when he began. A defeat to the Marattas was like a blow given to water, which offers no resistance to the stroke and retains no impression of its effect : their army dispersed at the moment, to unite again on the same day or the next. But a defeat to the Moguls was attended with loss and humiliation ; and even their partial success did not stop the waste of their resources and embarrassment of the finances of their government, which every day increased their difficulties and undermined their strength. Aurangzib's personal operations gave a promise of more solid advantage. He quitted his cantonment, to the great regret of his officers, who had erected comfortable dwellings, and founded a sort of city ; and, after reducing some other forts, he sat down before Sattara. By a dexterous feint he contrived to take that place unprepared ; it nevertheless made a desperate defence, and did not surrender till the siege had lasted several months. Before it fell, Raja Ram had died, and had been succeeded by his son, Sivaji, under the regency of Tara Bai, the widow * [His grand-nephew was the in the Carnatic wars of the English. Morari Rao of Guti, often mentioned — ED.] XI. 4 AURANGZIB'S STRENGTH AND SPIRIT 649 of the deceased and mother of the young raja. This event had little effect on the war. Aurangzib went on with his plan, and in the course of the next four or five years had taken almost all the principal forts possessed by the Marattas. Many of the sieges were long and bloody,1 and various expedients and stratagems were employed by both parties in the conduct of them ; but they were too monotonous to bear description, and the result was as has been stated. In reviewing these laborious undertakings, it is impossible not to admire the persevering spirit with which Aurangzib bore up against the difficulties and misfortunes that over- shadowed his declining years. He was near sixty-five when he crossed the Nerbadda to begin on this long war, and had attained his eighty-first year before he quitted his cantonment at Birmapuri. The fatigues of marches and sieges were little suited to such an age ; and, in spite of the display of luxury in his camp-equipage, he suffered hardships that would have tried the constitution of a younger man. While he was yet at Birmapuri, a sudden flood of the Bima overwhelmed his cantonment in the darkness of the night ; and during the violence of one of those falls of rain which are only seen in tropical climates, a great portion of the cantonment was swept away, and the rest laid under water : the alarm and confusion increased the evil ; 12,000 persons are said to have perished, and horses, camels, and cattle without number. The emperor himself was in danger, the inundation rising over the elevated spot which he occupied, when it was arrested (as his courtiers averred) by the efficacy of his prayers. A similar disaster was produced by the descent of a torrent during the siege of Parli, the fort he took next after Sattara ; and, indeed, the storms of that inclement region must have exposed him to many sufferings, during the numerous rainy seasons he spent within it. The impassable streams, the flooded valleys, the miry bottoms, and narrow ways caused still greater difficulties when he was in motion, compelled him to halt where no provisions were to be had, and were so destructive to his cattle as sometimes entirely to cripple his army. The violent heats, in tents and during marches, were distressing at other seasons, and often rendered overpowering by failure of water : general famines and pestilences came more than once, in addition to the 1 Aurangzib writes thus of one of afflictions of this devout band have them to his son, Prince Azam : " You at length been brought to a conclu- will have received accounts of the sion ! " He then prays for happy calamities of the siege of Kelna, and results, and ascribes the past disasters of the unheard-of conditions and to a judgment on his own wickedness intolerable sufferings of the followers and neglect. (Thirty-eighth note of of Islam. Praise be to God that the the Daetitr ul Ami.} 650 AURANGZIB'S VIGILANCE scarcity and sickness to which his own camp was often liable ; and all was aggravated by accounts of the havoc and destruction committed by the enemy in the countries beyond the reach of those visitations. But in all these discouragements Aurangzib retained his vigour. He alone conducted every branch of his government, in the most minute detail. He planned campaigns, and issued instructions during their progress ; drawings of forts were sent for him to fix on the points of attack ; his letters embrace measures for keeping open the roads in the Afghan country, for quelling disturbances at Multan and Agra, and even for recovering possession of Can- dahar ; and, at the same time, there is scarcely a detachment marches or a convoy moves in the Deckan without some orders from Aurangzib's own hand. The appointment of the lowest revenue officer of a district, or the selection of a clerk in an office, is not beneath his atten- tion ; and the conduct of all these functionaries is watched, by means of spies and of prying inquiries from all comers, and they are constantly kept on the alert by admonitions founded on such information. This attention to particulars is not favourable to the real progress of business, any more than it is indicative of enlarged genius ; but combined, as it was in Aurangzib, with unremitting vigilance in all the greater affairs of the state it shows an activity of mind that would be wonderful at any age. These labours are the penalty he paid for his former offences against his father. The fate of Shah Jehan seems never for an instant to have been absent from his thoughts. To avoid a similar destiny, he retains all power and all patronage, and, by removing his chiefs from place to place, prevents their forming permanent connexions with anybody but himself. His sons are the constant objects of his observation and his management : 2 he surrounds them with spies, gives them colleagues in command, places trustworthy persons in inferior situations about them, exercises an open control over all their proceedings ; and at the same time never fails, by familiar and affectionate letters, and by constant presents and attentions, to conciliate their attachment, and prevent their feeling the irksomeness of their situation. To similar motives also, though partly to his natural disposition, must be attributed the considerate manner in which he treats his officers, and the sort of court which he appears to pay to all 2 [" Alamgir always pursued the armies, he thus prudently controlled policy of encouraging his grandsons, them by opposing to them enemies and employing them in public affairs ; in their own families, as Bidar Bakht for as his sons were ambitious of to Azam Shah, and Azam ush Shan to great power, and at the head of Shah Alam." (Irddat Khdn.) — ED.} XI. 4 SUSPICION OF HIS SONS 651 of them : he condoles with their loss of relations, inquires about their illnesses, confers honours in a flattering manner, makes his presents more acceptable by the gracious way in which they are given, and scarcely ever passes a censure without softening it by some obliging expression. His extreme leniency to all offences that do not touch his power or his religious prejudices seems also to have had its source in an unwillingness to make enemies, no less than in the real easiness of his temper. After all, he does not seem to have been successful in winning attach- ment : and with his sons he seems at heart to have trusted much more to fear than affection. Though he released Moazzim after seven years' imprisonment (A.D. 1694), he seems always to have regarded him with dislike and apprehension. He sent him to the remote government of Cabul, constantly resisted his wishes to return, even for a time, and endeavoured to engage him in an expedition which might carry him to the most distant part of his province, and might completely absorb his resources. He at first approved of the seizure of Cambakhsh, though afterwards convinced of his innocence : and his behaviour on one occasion to his favourite, Prince Azam, shows at once his policy in the management of his sons and his innate love of artifice and dissimulation. Having imbibed a suspicion that this prince was meditating independence, he sent for him to court ; and, as the prince made excuses and showed alarm, he offered to meet him slightly attended on a hunting- party. Azam, on this, set out, and Aurangzib secretly sur- rounded the place of meeting with chosen troops : as the prince got more and more within his toils, the old emperor found a succession of pretences for requiring him gradually to diminish the number of his attendants, until, when he reached the place where his father was, they were reduced to three persons. As nobody offered to undertake the duty, he was obliged to leave two of his companions to hold his horses ; and he and the remaining attendant were disarmed before they were admitted to the royal presence. On this he gave himself up for lost, and had no doubt that he was doomed to a long or perpetual imprisonment. But when he was introduced to his father, he was received with an affectionate embrace. Aurang- zib, who was prepared for shooting, gave his loaded gun to him to hold, and then led him into a retired tent, where he showed him a curious family sword, and put it naked into his hand that he might examine it ; after which he threw open his vest, on pretence of heat, but in reality to show that he had no hidden armour. After this display of confidence, he loaded Azam with presents, and at last said he had better think of retiring, or his people would be alarmed at his detention, 652 GROWING DISORDERS IN THE STATE This advice was not premature : Azam, on his return, found his whole camp on the point of breaking up, and his women weeping and lamenting his supposed fate. Whether he felt grateful for his easy dismissal does not appear ; but it is recorded that he never after received a letter from his father without turning pale, or recovered his composure until he had satisfied himself of the contents of it.3 But all Aurangzib's arts and all his industry were insufficient to resist the increasing disorders of the state, which now pressed upon him from every quarter. The Rajputs were still in open hostility : their example had long since been followed by the Jats near Agra : against these last, as at a later period against some insurgents at Multan,4 it had been necessary to send a force under a prince of the blood. Zulfikar's force began to be exhausted, and the inefficacy of his former exertions became more and more apparent. The Marattas seemed to multiply as the Mogul armies decayed : after reduc- ing the Deckan to a desert, they had spread over Malwa, and made a powerful inroad into Guzerat, leaving their traces everywhere in pillaged towns, ravaged fields, and smoking villages. The grand army still went on taking forts, but its last success was scarcely less ignominious than a defeat : it was the taking of Wakinkera, which, though only a fortified village, belonging to a chief of banditti, required the presence of the emperor and a siege of several months to subdue it. These acquisitions began at this time to be balanced by corresponding losses. The Marattas were in a condition to attempt the recovery of their strongholds, and the forts, which it had cost so many labours to gain, were one by one falling into their possession. As the calls on the grand army increased, its power went on to decline. The troops became more timid than ever ; the cattle were worn out, and could not be replaced from the wasted state of the country ; provisions failed from the same reason, and the means of obtaining them from a distance were cut off by the emptiness of the treasury.5 Notwithstanding vast remittances from Hindostan, the 3 Khafi Khan. appointed a jagirdar, the Marattas * Probably the Sikhs, under Guru appointed another to the same dis- Govind. trict, so that every place had two 5 [" Contributions were now levied masters. The farmers left off culti- iri lieu of regular revenue, and the vating more ground than would parties sent to collect supplies coin- barely subsist them, and in their mitted great excesses. The collectors turn became plunderers for want of of the jizya extorted millions from the employment." (Bondela Narrative, farmers, and sent only a small part to p. 108.) — ED.] the treasury. Whenever the emperor XI. 4 RETREAT TO AHMEDNAGAR 653 finances had long since fallen into confusion ; and as their state became more painful, Aurangzib withdrew his attention from them.6 He was irritated by applications for arrears of pay, and used peevishly to answer such demands by saying that he did not want the troops, and if they were not pleased with the service they might quit it.7 He even disbanded some bodies of horse, with the intention of easing the finances. But regular pay was indispensable to troops situated like his ; and when it had been long withheld, they began to break into open mutinies, which were quieted by temporary expedients.8 All his difficulties were increased as the Marattas drew closer round the army. At times the}7 plundered up to the very skirts of the camp, intercepted the supplies, carried off the cattle, cut up the foragers, insulted the pickets, and made it impossible for any one to show his head out of the lines without a powerful escort. If any ordinary detachment was sent to check them, they repelled or destroyed it. If a great effort was made, they vanished ; and perhaps did not again appear till they had plundered some distant town, and left time for their pursuers to Aveary themselves by forced marches in a wrong direction.9 They now treated the power of the emperor with derision. Those in his service mixed and feasted with those opposed to him, and on such occasions they used to mimic the pompous manners and devout ejaculations of the Mussulmans, and to pray with mock solemnity for long life to their best patron, Aurangzib. So low was the emperor reduced, that he was persuaded by Cambakhsh to authorize overtures to the enemy ; and if the negotiations had not been broken off, by the exorbitance and insolence of the Marattas, he would probably have agreed to release Saho Raja, and grant (in such forms as might save his dignity) an annual percentage on the revenue of the Deckan. Aurangzib 's last military operation was a retreat to Ahmednagar, the nature of which may be conceived from his exhausted cattle and dispirited troops. All hurried on in disorder and dejection, deafened with the incessant firing kept up by the marksmen, alarmed by the shouts and charges 6 Aurangzib's letters, and Khafi foot-soldiers," who are croaking like Khan. crows in an invaded rookery. In 7 Khafi Khan. The army was for another letter he reminds him of the a long time very regularly paid, wants of the exchequer, and presses Gomelli Carreri, in 1695, says the him to search for hidden treasures, troops were paid punctually every and to hunt out any that may have two months, and would not bear any fallen into the hands of individuals, irregularity. Many of his notes dwell on his pecu- 3 He writes on one occasion to niary embarrassments. Zulfikar Khan, that he is stunned 9 Bondela Narrative, in Scott's with the clamour of " these infernal Deckan, vol. ii. 654 THE EMPEROR ILL A.D. 1707, A.H. 1120 of the lancers, and every moment expecting a general attack to complete their dispersion and destruction. Such, indeed, was the fate of a portion of the army ; and it is a subject of pious exultation to the Mussulman historians, that the emperor himself escaped falling into the hands of the enemies whom he had once so much despised.10 Ahmednagar, whence, twenty years before, he had marched in so much power and splendour on his conquests, received the remains of his ruined greatness, and was soon to witness the close of his earthly career. His health had, of late, become gradually impaired ; he with difficulty overcame one illness that threatened his life ; and although he continued his public appearance and his attention to business, his spirit at length began to sink under the accumulated burden of anxiety and disease. On reaching Ahmednagar, he said he had now come to the end of all his journeys ; and from his last letters we perceive, at once, the extent of his bodily sufferings, the failure of his hopes in this world, and his dread of that to come. The remembrance of Shah Jehan seemed to haunt him more than ever : he nowhere expresses remorse for his share in that monarch's fate, but he shows by all his actions how much he fears that a like measure may be meted out to him. Prince Moazzim having proposed some arrangements which common prudence required at such a crisis, he interprets them into a design to seize on the government while he was yet alive. When a letter from Prince Azam was read to him, entreating permission to come to Ahmednagar, on the ground that the air of Guzerat was ruining his health, he abruptly remarked, " That is exactly the pretext I used to Shah Jehan in his illness," and added, that " no air was so unwholesome as the fumes of ambition " : and although afterwards prevailed on by Azam's importunity to allow him to pay him a visit on his way to his new government of Malwa,11 yet one of the last exertions of his authority was to compel the prince to proceed on his journey, and to prevent his finding any excuse for remaining about the court. He had just before sent off Cambakhsh to Bijapur, but this seems rather to have been done to gratify Azam than from any apprehensions of his own. These measures had not long been completed before he became sensible that his end was approaching. In this awful moment he wrote, or dictated, a letter to Prince Azam, in which his worldly counsels and his adieus are mixed with 10 Grant Duff, vol. i. p. 409. been given to his eldest son, Bidar 11 [" Guzerat had at the same time Bakht." (Iradat Khan.} — ED.] XI. 4 DEATH OF AURANGZIB 655 broken sentences, giving utterance to the feelings of remorse and terror with which his soul was agitated, and which he closes with a sort of desperate resignation, — " Come what come may, I have launched my vessel on the waves." . . . " Farewell ! farewell ! farewell ! ' He also wrote to his youngest, and latterly his favourite, son Cambakhsh. His letter, as to a much younger man, is more one of advice and admonition than that to Azam. It shows that he retained his favourite habits to the last. " Your courtiers," he says, " Jwwever deceitful, must not be ill-treated : it is necessary to gain your views by gentleness and art," etc. Even in this letter his sense of his own situation breaks out from time to time. "Wherever I look I see nothing but the Divinity." . . . " I have committed numerous crimes, and I know not with what punishments I may be seized." ..." The agonies of death come upon me fast." ..." I am going. Whatever good or evil I have done, it was for you." 12 It must have been about the same time that he drew up a sort of will, which was found under his pillow on his death. He there recommends that Moazzim should be recognized as emperor, and that he and Azam should divide the empire : one taking the northern and eastern provinces, with Delhi for his capital ; and the other Agra, with all the country to the south and south-west of it, including all the Deckan, except the kingdoms of Golconda and Bijapur. These last were assigned to Cam- bakhsh.13 He expired on the 21st of February, A.D. 1707, in the eighty-ninth year of his life, and fiftieth of his reign.14 A native historian, impressed with the courage, wisdom, and ability of Aurangaib, is at a loss to account for the ill- success of his reign. vThe real defect was in his heart. Had he been capable of any generous or liberal sentiment, he would have been a great prince ; his subjects ;would not have been alienated by his narrow views in religion/nor would the power of his officers have been cramped, and their zeal chilled, by a constant spirit of suspicion and distrust.15 In alluding, for the 12 I have taken the translation in saved from the price of caps which he Scott's Deckan, vol. ii. p. 8, of the had made and sold. Eight hundred Memoirs, though the original of it and five rupees, which he had gained must have differed in some slight by copying Korans, were to be given particulars from the Persian copy at to the poor. (See Asiatic Register the India House. for 1801.) 13 He left another will, seemingly 14 These are solar years. He was prepared when under less agitation. born the 15th Zi Caad, A.H. 1027, it contains some general maxims of about the end of October, A.D. 1618 government, and instructions about (Khd/i Khan. Gladwin's Jehdmjir, his funeral ; the expense of which p. 45.) was to be defrayed by a sum of four l5 " Of all the house of Timur, rupees and a half (about ten shillings), indeed of all the kings of Delhi, none 656 AURANGZIB'S CHARACTER last time, to his narrow views in religion, which contributed so largely to the ruin of his empire, it is well worth while to observe by how little direct persecution that evil result was produced. The Hindus seem rather to have been irritated by systematic discouragement than inflamed by acts of cruelty or oppression. They were excluded from office ; they were degraded by a special tax ; their fairs and festivals were forbidden ; their temples were sometimes insulted and destroyed ; and it was sufficient to procure the abolition of any ceremony or practice of the court that it seemed to give a countenance to their superstition : but it does not appear that a single Hindu suffered death, imprisonment, or loss of property for his religion, or, indeed, that any individual was ever questioned for the open exercise of the worship of his fathers. Yet such is the effect of mutual jealousy and animosity, in matters of religion, that the most violent outrages have seldom raised up so obstinate a spirit of resistance as was engendered by the partiality and prejudices of this emperor. Some hundreds of Aurangzib's letters have been preserved, from which we may glean some particulars of his character, in addition to the great lines marked by his actions. With all his bigotry, he was not superstitious. He cordially detests the Hindus, and has very little more good- will towards the Shias ; but he lays out no money on mosques or endowments, shows no sign of being under the influence of the recognized clergy, and often expresses his contempt for the assumed sanctity of fakirs and dervises. His government is a system of continual mistrust : every man's character is secretly investigated, and colleagues are so selected that each may be a check on his neighbour ; yet there never was a prince so much cheated or so ill-served. The coldness of his heart is conspicuous in the manner in which he receives the accounts of the death of his oldest and most intimate friends. In so long a life such events often occur, and they always draw forth some pious or philosophical reflection, followed up by strict orders to seize on the property of the deceased, to see that none is embezzled, to hunt out since the time of Secander Lodi ever appeared so distinguished in point of devotion, austerity, and justice ; and in courage, patience, and sound judg- ment he was without a peer : but as, from reverence to the injunctions of the Divine law, he did not inflict punishment, and as without punish- ment no country can be kept in order — in consequence, also, of the dissen- sions arising from rivalry among his nobles — every plan and design which he formed came to little good, and every enterprise drew into delay, and never attained its object. Though he had lived ninety years, none of his five senses were at all impaired except his hearing in a small degree, but not so that others could perceive it." (Khdfi Khan.) XI. 4 HIS APPEARANCE 657 all deposits, and to be careful in recovering all outstanding debts. His letters almost invariably include some poetical quota- tion, or some verse from the Koran. They are sometimes familiar, and even jocose, especially those to his sons. One, written after he was eighty, ends with some burlesque verses, of two or three words long, each of which gives a ludicrous description of the present occupations of some one of the principal people about his court.16 Gemelli Carreri, who saw Aurangzib in the seventy-eighth year of his age, describes him as of low stature, slender, and stooping with age, with a long nose and a round beard, the whiteness of which was more visible on his olive skin. He was dressed in plain white muslin, with one emerald of great size in his turban. He stood amidst his omrahs, leaning on a staff ; received petitions, read them without spectacles, endorsed them with his own hand, " and, by his cheerful, smiling coun- tenance, seemed to be pleased with the employment." 17 Of all the kings of India, Aurangzib is the most admired among the Mussulmans. There are few who are quite blind to the lustre of Akber's character, but fewer still whose deliber- ate judgment would not give the preference to Aurangzib. There are some unconnected events which should not be entirely omitted in an account of this reign. The insurrection of the Jats has been mentioned ; they are a Hindu people of the Sudra class, who inhabit a tract near Agra, of which the capital is Bhartpur. Though in an open country, and close to Agra and Mattra, they occasioned much embarrassment to the government even during this reign ; and rose to so much greater consequence in those that followed, that at one time they were in possession of Agra, and were the last people in the plains of India that have offered any serious obstacle to the British power. In the thirty-eighth year of the king's reign, A.D. 1693, a ship bound from Surat to Mecca with pilgrims, which Khafi Khan describes as carrying eighty guns,18 and furnished with 16 There are three collections of the same appearance. They are his letters : — First, the " Kalamat i without dates or order, and are often Taibat," published by one of his chief obscure, from their brevity, and our secretaries, Enayat Ullah ; second, ignorance of the subjects alluded to. the " Rakaim i Karaim," by the son 17 Gemelli Carreri, in Churchill, of another secretary ; and third, the vol. iv. " Dastur ul Ami Agahi," collected 18 The number is probably not from all quarters thirty-eight years exaggerated, though the guns must after his death. The first two collec- have been light. Some of the Com- tions profess to be merely the rough pany's ships of 600 tons carried drafts or notes which he wrote with seventy guns. (See Macpherson's his own hand for his secretaries. Commerce of India, -p. 133.) Most of the third collection have tr u 658 ENGLISH SETTLERS 400 muskets, was attacked by an English ship of small size. A gun burst on board the king's ship ; the English boarded, and " although the Christians have no courage at the sword, yet by bad management the vessel was taken." On this Aurangzib ordered the English factors at his ports to be seized, and directed the Abyssinians to take Bombay. The English retaliated by seizing the king's officers, and the Abyssinians, who (by Khafi Khan's account) were on a friendly footing with them, showed no inclination to break it off. At length Khafi Khan himself was sent on a mission from the viceroy of Guzerat to Bombay. He describes his reception as being conducted with great dignity and good order, and with a considerable display of military power. He negotiated with elderly gentlemen in rich clothes, and, although they sometimes laughed more heartily than became so grave an occasion, yet he seems to have been favourably impressed with their acuteness and intelligence. The English alleged, apparently with truth, that the king's ship had been taken by pirates, for whom they were not answerable ; and explained their coining money in their own king's name (which was another complaint against them) by stating that they had to purchase investments at places where the Mogul's money did not pass. Nothing is stated to have been settled on this occasion, but it appears from other sources that the English compounded for some pecuniary payments.19 It is curious that Khafi Khan (though in this case he relates a transaction of small moment in which he was personally engaged) takes no notice of the war made on Aurangzib by the English on both sides of India, which was of so much conse- quence in the history of the East India Company.20 He did not foresee the future importance of those unskilful antagonists. 19 Grant Duff. 20 [See Mill's History, book i. ch. 5.— ED.] XII. 1 SUCCESSORS OF AURANGZIB 659 BOOK XII SUCCESSORS OF AURANGZIB CHAPTER I TO THE ACCESSION OF MOHAMMED SHAH A.D. 1707, A.H. 1119— A.D. 1719, A.H. 1131 Contest between Prince Azam and his elder brother, Prince Moazzim — Victory of Moazzim, henceforward Bahadur Shah, June, A.D. 1707 ; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 1119 — Revolt of Prince Cambakhsh in the Deckan — His defeat and death, February, A.D. 1708; Zi Caad, A.H. 1119 — Bahadur's proceedings in the Deckan — State of the Marattas — Factions of Raja Saho and Tara Bai — Daud Khan Panni left in charge of the Deckan for Zulfikar Khan — Makes a truce with the Marattas — Transactions with the Rajputs — Peace with that power, A.D. 1709, A.H. 1121 — Rise of the Sikhs — Peaceful character of their sect — Persecuted by the Mahometans — Their revolt — Guru Govind — He forms the Sikhs into a religious and military commonwealth — Their doctrines and manners — They are overpowered at first — Their fanaticism — Their successes, ravages, and cruelties under Banda — Bahadur marches against them — They are driven into the hills — Escape of Banda — Death of Bahadur Shah, February, A.D. 1712; Moharram, A.H. 1124 — Contest between his sons — Artifices of Zulfikar Khan — He secures the victory to Jehandar Shah, May or June, A.D. 1712 ; Jamada'l awwal, A.H. 1124 — Accession of Jehandar Shah — His incapacity — Arrogance of Zulfikar Khan — General discontent — Revolt of Prince Farokhsir in Bengal — He is supported by Abdullah and Hosein All, governors of Behar and Allahabad — Defeats the imperial army, January I,A.D. 1713; Zil Haj 15, A.H. 1124— Zulfikar betrays Jehandar Shah to the enemy, but is put to death along with the emperor, February 4, A.D. 1713; Moharram 17, A.H. 1125 — Great power of Seiads Abdullah and Hosein Ali — Jealousy of the emperor — His intrigues — Hosein Ali sent against A jit Sing, raja of Mar war — Makes an honourable peace — Increased distrust — Submission of the emperor — Hosein Ali marches to settle the Deckan, December, A.D. 1715; Zi Haj, A.H. 1127— Farokhsir instigates Daud Khan Panni to resist him — Defeat and death of Daud Khan, A.D. 1716, A.H. 1129 — Renewed devastations of the Sikhs —They are defeated and nearly extirpated — Cruel execution of Banda — Progress of the Marattas — Chin Kilich Khan (afterwards A'saf Jah) — Ill success of Hosein Ali — He makes peace with Raja Saho, and submits to pay the chout, A.D. 1717 — Farokhsir refuses to ratify the treaty — State of the court of Delhi — Abdullah Khan — Plots of Farokhsir — Combination of great nobles to support him — His levity and irresolution — Disgusts his confederates — Return of Hosein Ali, accompanied by 10,000 Marattas, December, A.D. 1718; Moharram, A.H. 1131 — Farokhsir deposed and put to death, February, A.D. 1719 ; Rabius Sani, A.H. 1131 — Nominal emperors set up by the Seiads: Rafi ud Darajat, February, A.D. 1719; Rabi us Sani, A.H. 1131: Rafi ud Doula, May, A.D. 1719 ; Rajab, A.H. 1131 : Mohammed Shah, September, A.D. 1719 ; Zi Caada, A.H. 1131. 660 BAHADUR SHAH A.D. 1707, A.H. 1119 Bahadur jShdh As soon as Prince Azam heard of his father's death, he returned to camp, and within a week was proclaimed sovereign of all India, in perfect disregard of the late emperor's will. Prince Moazzim, with better reason, assumed the crown at Cabul, with the title of Bahadur Shah ; * and both brothers prepared to assert their pretensions by force of arms. In spite of the exhausted state of the empire, they assembled very large armies, and met at length not far to the south of Agra. A bloody battle ensued, in which Prince Azam and his two grown-up sons were killed, and his youngest son, an infant, was taken prisoner. Prince Azam had disgusted many of his principal officers by his arrogance : among others, Assad Khan and his son, Zulfikar Khan, had quitted his camp, and remained spectators of the contest. When the event was known, they sent their submission to the victor. Bahadur Shah received them graciously, and promoted them to the highest honours in the state. He showed like indulgence towards the other adherents of Azam Shah ; but his confidence was chiefly reposed in Monim Khan, who had been his own principal officer at Cabul, and was now appointed vazir. Monim was an equally able and well-intentioned minister ; and as the king's only fault was too great facility of temper, his accession was welcomed by the great body of his subjects, who looked to some relief from the religious austerity of Aurang- zib, and the sacrifices entailed on them by his obstinate wars. Prince Cambakhsh, though a vain and violent young man, had admitted the sovereignty of Prince Azam, and had been confirmed in his appanage ; but he refused to acknowledge Bahadur Shah, and that king, after attempting in vain to win him over by concessions, marched against him to the Deckan, and defeated him in a battle near Heiderabad, where Cambakhsh died of his wounds on the same day. The emperor's presence in the Deckan made it necessary to consider what course should be adopted towards the Marattas. It was easier at this time to effect an accommodation with them than could have been expected from the state of affairs at Aurangzib's death. At that period Saho, the rightful raja, was still a prisoner in the hands of the Moguls, and the govern- ment was carried on by Tara Bai, the widow of his uncle Raja Ram, in the name of her infant son. But though the necessity of having an efficient chief had induced the Marattas to place Raja Rani on their throne after the taking of Raighar, they had not forgotten the hereditary claim of his nephew, * [He is also called Shah Alam I. — ED.] XII. 1 TRUCE WITH THE MARATTAS 661 and were not pleased to see him again excluded without the same motive as before. With a view to profit by these con- tending claims. Prince Azam, on his march against Bahadur Shah, released Saho, who was now grown up, and promised him peace on favourable terms if he should succeed in establishing his title. This plan was adopted at the suggestion of Zulfikar Khan, and completely answered its end. The Maratta chiefs took different sides ; and, instead of overwhelming their enemies, who seemed incapable of further resistance, they fell into civil war among themselves, and left the Moguls un- disturbed at the moment of their greatest weakness. When Bahadur Shah turned his attention to the Marattas, Saho seemed likely to prevail in the contest ; and Zulfikar, who was now in great favour, was anxious that peace should be concluded with him, at the price of the concessions formerly offered by Aurangzib. But Monim Khan, the vazir, though willing to agree with the terms, wished them to be granted to Tara Bai, and the whole negotiation fell to the ground. On Bahadur's departure he gave the viceroyalty of the Deckan to Zulfikar ; and as that chief could not be spared from court, he left the administration of the government to Daud Khan Panni, a Patan officer already distinguished in Aurangzib's wars, who was to act as his lieutenant. Daud followed up the view of his principal, and concluded a personal agreement with Saho, consenting that the chout (or fourth) should be paid while he remained in office, but stipu- lating that it should be collected by agents of his own, without the interference of the Marattas. This arrangement kept the Deckan quiet till the end of the present reign, and allowed Bahadur to turn his thoughts to other scenes, where his exertions were scarcely less required. While he was on his march against Cambakhsh, he had en- deavoured to make a settlement of his disputes with the Rajputs. He had entered into a treaty with the rana of Oudipur, restoring all conquests, re-establishing religious affairs on the footing on which they stood in Akber's time, releasing the rana from the obligation to furnish a contingent in the Deckan, and, in fact, acknowledging his entire independence in everything but the name.1 He had concluded a treaty, apparently on similar terms, with Ajit Sing, the raja of Marwar, except that, in the latter case, the service of the contingent was still retained. On Jei Sing, the raja of Jeipur (who, though he had never asserted his independence, had joined with Prince Azam in the late civil war), he had imposed more rigorous terms. He had left a garrison in his capital ; and, although 1 Colonel Tod's Rdjasihdn, vol. i. p. 395. 662 THE SIKHS A.D. 1709 A.H. 1121 ' he allowed him to command the Jeipur contingent with the army, he seems to have deprived him of all authority in his own principality. By the time the army reached the Nerbadda on its advance, A jit Sing also had received some cause of offence ; and the two rajas went off together, with their troops, and entered into a league to resist the Mogul authority. As soon as the contest in the Deckan was put an end to by the death of Cambakhsh, Bahadur Shah turned his attention to breaking up the confederacy; but before he reached the Rajput country he received intelligence of the capture of Sirhind by the Sikhs, and of such a state of affairs in the Panjab as left him no time for his intended operations.2 In these circumstances he became anxious to make peace with the Rajputs ; and as the great obstacle to an accommo- dation arose from their fears of treachery, he sent his own son, Prince Azim ush Shan, to accompany them to a meeting which took place on the emperor's line of march, and at which the rajas appeared at the head of their own armies. All their demands were agreed to, and they were probably left on the same footing as the rana of Oudipur. The Sikhs, against whom the emperor was obliged to march, had originally been a religious sect, were then rising into a nation, and have in our times attained to considerable political influence among the states of India. Their founder, Nanak, flourished about the end of the fif- teenth century. He was a disciple of Kabir, and consequently a sort of Hindu deist, but his peculiar tenet was universal toleration. He maintained that devotion was due to God, but that forms were immaterial, and that Hindu and Mahome- tan worship were the same in the sight of the Deity.3 The spirit of this religion promised to keep its votaries at peace with all mankind ; but such views of comprehensive charity were particularly odious to the bigoted part of the Mahometans ; and accordingly, after the sect had silently increased for more than a century, it excited the jealousy of the Mussulman government, and its spiritual chief was put to death in A.D. 1606,4 within a year after the decease of Akber. This act of tyranny changed the Sikhs from inoffensive quietists into fanatical warriors. They took up arms under Har Govind, the son of their martyred pontiff, who inspired them with his own spirit of revenge and of hatred to their oppressors. Being now open enemies of the government, the Sikhs were expelled 2 Scott's Memoirs of Erddat Khdn, 3 Professor Wilson, Asiatic Re- p. 58. Tod's Rdjasthdn, vol. ii. p. 77, searches, vol. xvii. p. 233. etc. * Sir J. Malcolm, ibid., vol. xi. p. 212. XII. 1 GURU GOVIND 663 from the neighbourhood of Lahor, which had hitherto been their seat, and constrained to take refuge in the northern mountains.5 Notwithstanding dissensions which broke out among themselves, they continued their animosity to the Mussulmans, and confirmed their martial habits, until the accession (A.D. 1675) of Guru Govind, the grandson of Har Govind, and the tenth spiritual chief from Nanak. This leader first conceived the idea of forming the Sikhs into a religious and military commonwealth, and executed his design with the systematic spirit of a Grecian lawgiver. To increase the numbers of his society, he abolished all distinctions of cast among its members, admitting all converts, whether Mahometan or Hindu, Bramin or Chandala, to a perfect equality ; while, to preserve its unity, he instituted a peculiar dress and peculiar manners, by which his followers Avere to be distinguished from all the rest of mankind. Each was to be a vowed soldier from his birth or initiation, was always to carry steel in some form about his person, to wear blue clothes, allow his hair and beard to grow, and neither to clip nor remove the hairs on any other part of his body. Reverence for the Hindu gods and respect for Bramins were maintained, and the slaughter of kine was most positively forbidden ; but all other prohibitions relating to food and liquors were abolished ; the usual forms of worship were laid aside ; new modes of salutation and new ceremonies on the principal events of life were introduced ; 6 and so effectual was the change operated on the people, that the Sikhs have now (after parting with several of their singularities) as distinct a national character as any of the original races in India. They are tall and thin, dark for so northern a people, active horsemen, and good matchlockmen : they are still all soldiers, but no longer fanatics ; though unpolished, they are frank and sociable, and are devoted to pleasure of every description and degree. Far different was their character under Guru Govind, when they were filled with zeal for their faith and rancour against their enemies, and were prepared to do or suffer anything to promote the success of their cause. But their numbers were inadequate to accomplish their plans of resistance and revenge : after a long struggle, Guru Govind saw his strongholds taken, his mother and his children massacred, and his followers slain, mutilated, or dispersed. His misfortunes impaired his reason, or at least destroyed his energy; for so little formidable had he become, that he was allowed to enter the Mogul domi- nions unmolested, and was murdered by a private enemy, 8 Sir J. Malcolm, p. 214. searches, vol. xi. pp. 219, 220, 284, 6 Sir J. Malcolm, Asiatic Re- 288. 664 SIKH ATROCITIES at Nander, in the Deckan.7 But although it is sometimes possible to crush a religion even after it has taken root, it can only be done by long and steady persecution, and that the internal disturbances of the Moguls prevented their applying. Their severities only exalted the fanaticism of the Sikhs, and inspired a gloomy spirit of vengeance, which soon broke out into fury. Under a new chief named Banda, who had been bred a religious ascetic, and who combined a most sanguinary disposition with bold and daring counsels, they broke from their retreat, and overran the east of the Panjab, committing unheard-of cruelties wherever they directed their steps. The mosques, of course, were destroyed, and the mullahs butchered ; but the rage of the Sikhs was not restrained by any considera- tions of religion, or by any mercy for age or sex ; whole towns were massacred with wanton barbarity, and even the bodies of the dead were dug up and thrown out to the birds and beasts of prey. The principal scene of these atrocities was Sirhind, which the Sikhs occupied, after defeating the governor in a pitched battle ; but the same horrors marked their route through the country eastward of the Satlaj and Jumna, into which they penetrated as far as Seharanpur. They at length received a check from the local authorities, and retired to the country on the upper course of the Satlaj, between Lodiana and the mountains. This seems, at that time, to have been their principal seat ; and it was well suited to their condition, as they had a near and easy retreat from it when forced to leave the open country. Their retirement, on the present occasion, was of no long continuance; and on their next incursions they ravaged the country as far as the neighbourhood of Lahor on the one side, and of Delhi itself on the other.8 It was the extent of these depredations that made it necessary for Bahadur to come against them in person. He soon drove them within their own limits, and then obliged them to take refuge in the hills ; to subdue them effectually, however, required a considerable exertion ; and after Banda had at length been reduced to take refuge in a fort, it was only by means of famine that the emperor could hope to take the place. A long and strict blockade was therefore set on foot ; but although the Sikhs endured the utmost extremities of 7 Sir J. Malcolm. Forster's Tra- 8 The proceedings of the Sikhs, vels, p. 263. The latter author states till their capture of Seharanpur, is that Guru Govind had a small com- from Sir J. Malcolm, Forster, and mand in the Mogul service, which is Khafi Khan : the subsequent narra- confirmed by Khafi Khan. tive is from Khafi Khan alone. XII. 1 JEHANDAR SHAH 665 hunger, and died in vast numbers, they still continued the defence. When further resistance became hopeless, a desperate sally was made by the besieged ; many of the partakers in this bold enterprise were killed, and the Mussulmans took possession of the fort without further resistance. A person who seemed to be their chief, and had used every means of making himself conspicuous, was made prisoner and carried off in triumph ; when he arrived in camp it was found that he was a Hindu convert, who had sacrificed himself to save his leader, and that Banda himself had escaped during the sally. The emperor, though sufficiently struck by the prisoner's self-devotion as to spare his life, was yet so ungenerous as to order him to be shut up in an iron cage and sent to Delhi. After this success, the emperor returned to Lahor, leaving a detachment to watch the Sikhs, and to check their depredations. This object was not fully attained, and the power of the Sikhs was again on the ascendant, when Bahadur Shah died at Lahor, in the seventy-first lunar year of his age, and fifth of his reign. The death of Bahadur Shah was followed by the usual struggle among his sons. The incapacity of the eldest (after- wards Jehandar Shah) had given a great ascendency to the second, whose name was Azim ush Shan ; 9 and as he was supported by most of the nobility and of the army, he appeared to have an irresistible superiority over his competitors. But his three brothers joined their interests, and were kept together by the persuasions and false promises of Zulfikar Khan, whose love of intrigue was still as strong as ever. Their concord was of short duration, but lasted until the defeat and death of Azim ush Shan. Two of the surviving brothers soon after came to an open conflict, and the third attacked the victor on the morning after the battle ; he was, however, repulsed and slain, and Jehandar Shah remained undisputed master of the throne. Jehandar Shah. Immediately on his accession, Jehandar appointed Zulfikar Khan to be vazir. This crafty and able chief had supported Jehandar through the whole of the preceding contest, judging, from the low and slothful habits of that prince, that he was best suited for a tool in the hands of an ambitious minister. Accordingly, he assumed the control of the government from 9 [This prince had been governor zemindarship of Chuttarmtty, Cal- of Bengal from 1697 to 1703, and cutta, and Govindpore. Most of the again from 1707 to 1712; and in time Murshid Khan was his deputy, 1098 he had sold to the English the — ED.] 666 FAROKHSIR A.D. 1713, A.H. 1124 the first, and treated the emperor with the utmost arrogance and disdain. He could not have ventured to adopt this course if Jehandar, besides degrading his own dignity by his vices and follies, had not provoked the nobility by his partiality for the relations of his favourite mistress. This woman had been a public dancer, and her family were of the same dis- creditable class ; yet they were exalted to high stations, to the exclusion of the nobles, whom they were also allowed on several occasions to insult with impunity. But though their disgust at such proceedings prevented the nobility from taking part with the emperor, it did not reconcile them to the pride and tyranny of Zulfikar,10 which soon came to be displayed towards all ranks ; and it is not improbable that their dis- contents might have led to open opposition, if the attention of all had not been attracted by a danger from without. One of Jehandar's first acts had been to put all the princes of the blood within his reach to death : among those whom he could not get into his power was Farokhsir,11 the son of Azim ush Shan, who was in Bengal at the time of Bahadur Shah's death. After that event, and the ruin of Azim ush Shan, he threw himself on the compassion and fidelity of Seiad Hosein All, the governor of Behar, an old adherent of his father, who warmly espoused his cause, and prevailed on his brother, Seiad Abdullah, governor of Allahabad, to adopt the same course. By the aid of these noblemen, Farokhsir assembled an army at Allahabad, repelled a force sent to oppose him on his advance, and had marched to the neighbourhood of Agra, when he was met by Jehandar and Zulfikar with an army of 70,000 men. The battle was fiercely contested : and Hosein Ali, the soul of Farokhsir's enterprise, was left for dead upon the field. But success at length declared for the rebels ; the emperor himself fled in disguise to Delhi, whither Zulfikar retreated at the head of his remaining troops. Jehandar, on reaching Delhi, repaired to the house of Assad Khan, the father of Zulfikar ; this practised traitor immediately committed him to custody ; and, on the arrival of Zulfikar, persuaded him, though at first unwilling to part with the instrument of his ambition, to endeavour to make his peace with the new emperor by the sacrifice of his rival. Accordingly, as Farokhsir approached the capital, both father and son went out to meet him, and delivered their late unfortunate master into his hands. Assad Khan's life was 10 [Iradat Khan calls him " seater, hammadan India. — ED.] nay, creator of emperors." He was, n [Or, more properly, Farrukhsi- in fact, the " kingmaker " of Mu- yar. — ED.] XII. 1 THE SEIADS 667 spared ; 12 but Zulfikar paid the penalty of his selfish and perfidious career, and was strangled before he left the imperial tent. Jehandar was put to death at the same time ; and these severities were followed by many other executions. Farokhsir. The accession of Farokhsir was naturally accompanied by the elevation of his protectors. Abdullah Khan, the eldest brother, was made vazir ; and Hosein received the rank of amir ul omara (or commander-in-chief), which was the second in the state. These brothers were sprung from a numerous and respected family of descendants of the Prophet, who were settled in the town of Bara ; 13 and in consequence of this origin they are best known in India by the name of the Seiads. They had expected from their services, as well as from the grovelling disposition of Farokhsir, and his submissive behaviour while courting their support, that they would be allowed to exercise all the real power of the state, leaving to the emperor only the pageantry, and such a command of wealth and honours as might enable him to gratify his favourites. But neither Farokhsir nor his favourites were so easily con- tented. His principal confidant was a person who had been cazi at Dacca, in Bengal, and on whom he conferred the high title of Mir Jumla. This man, though devoid of capacity, had an obstinate perseverance in his narrow views, which was well suited to gain an ascendency over a mind like Farokhsir 's, incapable of comprehending a great design, and too irresolute to execute even a small one without support. It was no difficult task to make the emperor jealous of the authority which he was so incompetent to exercise, and the overbearing conduct of the Seiads gave him a reasonable motive for counteracting them. The first scheme contrived in his secret cabinet was to weaken the brothers by a division of their force. For this purpose Hosein All was sent against A jit Sing of Marwar, 12 [As'ad Khan died in 1716 ; and scandalized at the debaucheries of the the Seir ul Mutdkherin calls him " the Mina bazar of Delhi, they obtained last member of that ancient nobility leave to reside outside the town which had conferred so much honour (bahir) ; others that it was the chief on the empire." Iradat Khan says, town of twelve (bdrah) which be- " for above 200 years their family longed to the clan ; but the spelling had filled the highest offices in the is opposed to both derivations, state." — ED.] There are four sub-divisions of the 13 j-" -phe bfirhah sdddt are a power- tribe. — There appears reason to be- ful tribe of Seiads in the eastern part liove that their occupation dates as of the Muzaffarnagar district. The far back as the time of Shams ud din origin of the name bdrhah is ascribed Altamish." (Sir H. Elliot's SuppL to various sources: some say that, Glossary.) — ED.] 668 HOSEIN ALI while secret messages were transmitted to the Rajput prince, intimating that he could do nothing more acceptable to the emperor than by offering an obstinate resistance to his lieu- tenant. But Hosein Ali was too well aware of the danger occasioned by his absence to insist on terms that might protract the war ; and Ajit, when his own interests were secured, had no inducement to make sacrifices for those of the emperor. Peace was accordingly jooncluded, on terms, to appearance, honourable to Farokhsir ; the raja engaging to send his son to Delhi, and to give his daughter in marriage to the emperor. The mutual distrust of the parties at court was increased after Hosein Ali returned ; and Farokhsir, as destitute of prudence and steadiness as of faith and honour, was exactly the sort of person with whom it was least possible to feel secure. The Seiads, conceiving (probably with good reason) that their lives were aimed at, assembled their troops about their palaces, and refused to go to court. It was now the king's turn to be alarmed, and the preparations of the contending factions threw the capital into the utmost confusion and dis- tress, and there remained no alternative but an immediate conflict, or the submission of the least determined of the parties. The king was therefore prevailed on to allow the gates of the citadel, in which was his palace, to be occupied by the guards of the Seiads, while they waited on him for the purpose of settling the terms of a reconciliation. It was there agreed that Mir Jumla should be made governor of Behar, and removed from court ; that Abdullah Khan should continue to exercise the functions of vazir ; but that Hosein should undertake the government of the Deckan, and proceed immediately with his army to that distant province. Harmony being to appearance restored, the emperor's nuptials with the daughter of Ajit Sing were celebrated with unprecedented splendour ; and the Rahtor raja, from his independent territory, saw his importance acknowledged at the capital whence he had in his infancy been conveyed with so much difficulty to escape the tyranny of Aurangzib.14 After this ceremony Hosein Ali set off for the Deckan. He was well aware that his continued absence would be the signal for the recall of Mir Jumla ; and he told the emperor, at parting, that if he heard of any attempt to disturb his brother's authority, he should be at Delhi with his army within three weeks of the intelligence. But Farokhsir did not trust to the ordinary chances of war 14 [Before this marriage Hamilton of 37 towns in Bengal, and exemption effects the emperor's cure, and gains from dues on their goods. (See Mill, for the company the zemindarship book iv. ch. 1.) — ED.] XII. 1 DEATH OF DADD 669 for affording employment to his general. He had recourse for this purpose to Daud Khan Panni, who was renowned throughout India for his reckless courage, and whose memory still survives in the tales and proverbs of the Deckan. Daud Khan had been removed on the accession of Farokhsir to the province of Guzerat, to which that of Khandesh was now added ; and, being an old fellow-soldier of Zulfikar Khan, could be relied on for zeal against the instrument of his ruin. He was secretly instructed to repair immediately to Khandesh, to carry with him all the troops he could collect, to exercise his influence with the Marattas and other chiefs of the Deckan, and, under pretence of co-operating with Hosein Ali, to take the first opportunity of accomplishing his destruction. Daud's manner of executing these orders was conformable to his established character. He at once set Hosein Ali at defiance, proceeded to engage him as an open enemy, and soon brought the question to a trial of strength in the field. The impetuosity of his charge on this occasion entirely disconcerted Hosein All's army ; they began to disperse in all directions, while Daud Khan, at the head of 300 chosen men of his tribe, armed with battle-axes, pushed straight at the person of his opponent. At this decisive moment Daud received a ball through his head, and his fall immediately turned the fortune of the day. His wife, a Hindu princess, who had accompanied him to Khandesh, stabbed herself on hearing of his death. Hosein Ali, after his victory, proceeded to his operations against the Marattas, without imputing to the emperor any share in the opposition which he had met with.15 Meanwhile, the long-continued dissensions among the Mussulmans had afforded an opportunity to the Sikhs to recruit their strength. Banda had issued from his retreat, defeated the imperial troops, and ravaged the level country 16 The above account is from the madan power and the elevation of the Seir ul Mutdkherin and Scott's Mahrattas ; and it brings us to the Deckan, who have both borrowed first steps which led to the occupation from Khafi Khan. [The Seir (or of Bengal, and eventually of all India, rather Siyar) ul Mutaakhkhirin was by the British Government. The written in 1780 by Mir Ghulani work is written in the style of private Husain Khan ; it contains an abridg- memoirs, the most useful and eri- ment of the early history, and a full gaging shape which history can narrative from the death of Aurang- assume ; nor, excepting in the pecu- zib. It was translated into English liarities which belong to the Muham- in 1789 by a Frenchman resident in madan character, do we perceive India, and General Briggs published throughout its pages any inferiority the first volume of a revised transla- to the historical memoirs of Europe, tion in 1832. General Briggs re- The Due de Sully, Lord Clarendon, marks : "It embraces a period of or Bishop Burnet, need not have about 70 years, and affords a com- been ashamed to be the authors of plete insight into the events which such a production." — ED.] caused the downfall of the Muham- 670 BANDA A.D. 1713, A.H. 1124 with greater fury than before. At length an army was sent against him, under an able chief named Abdussemed Khan. By him the Sikhs were beaten in repeated actions, and Banda was at last made prisoner, with a number of his men and some of his principal followers. Most of these persons were executed on the spot, but 740 were selected and sent with Banda to Delhi. They were paraded through the streets on camels, dressed in black sheepskins with the wool outside (in derision of the shaggy appearance they affected), and were exposed to the maledictions of the populace, which, it must be owned, they had well deserved. Their punishment exceeded the measure of offences even such as theirs. They were all beheaded on seven successive days, and died with the utmost firmness, disdaining every offer to save their lives at the expense of their religion. Banda was reserved for greater cruelties. He was exhibited in an iron cage, clad in a robe of cloth of gold and a scarlet turban ; an executioner stood behind him with a drawn sword ; around him were the heads of his followers on pikes ; and even a dead cat was stuck on a similar weapon, to indicate the extirpation of everything belonging to him. He was then given a dagger, and ordered to stab his infant son ; and on his refusing, the child was butchered before his eyes, and its heart thrown in his face. He was at last torn to pieces with hot pincers, and died with unshaken constancy, glorying in having been raised up by God to be a scourge to the iniquities and oppressions of the age. Sikhs who were still at large were hunted down like wild beasts, and it was not till after a long interval that they again appeared in force, and once more renewed their depredations. But the Sikhs, when at the strongest, were not numerous, and they were never formidable beyond a certain not very extensive tract.16 It was with a different sort of enemy that the Moguls had to contend in the Deckan. The removal of Daud Khan (A.D. 1713) had dissolved his engagements with the Marattas. His successor, Chin Kilich Khan (afterwards so well known under the titles of Nizam ul Mulk and A'saf Jah), was a man of much ability and more cunning ; and as the feud among the Marattas now raged with more bitterness than ever, he contrived, by favouring the weaker party, not only 16 The Sikhs have never been so affected to their government, flourishing as they are now (1839), (Burnes' Travels, vol. ii. p. 256.) and they are confined to the Panjab [For more recent information rcgard- and the neighbouring countries ; ing the Sikhs, see Capt. Cunningham's their numbers do not exceed 500,000 History of the Sikhs, 2nd ed. (1853). souls, and they are supposed to have — ED.] 3,000,000 subjects by no means well XII. 1 THE MOGULS ANNIHILATED 671 to foment their internal dissensions, but to induce several of their chiefs to espouse the Mogul cause. But these measures, though they prevented the increase of the Maratta power, had little effect in restoring the tran- quillity of the country ; and the removal of Chin Kilich Khan, to make way for Hosein Ali, put an end to the little good they had produced. Bands of Marattas ravaged the Mogul territory as before, and individuals of that nation seized on villages within its limits, and turned them into forts, from whence they plundered the adjoining districts.17 The most troublesome of these, at the time of Hosein All's arrival, was a chief whose family name was Dabari : he occupied a line of fortified villages in Khandesh, and, by his depreda- tions on caravans and travellers, shut up the great road from Hindostan and the Deckan to Surat. Soon after the dtefeat of Daiid Khan, a very strong detach- ment was sent to remedy this pressing evil, and was opposed by the usual Maratta tactics. The villages were evacuated as the Moguls advanced, and re-occupied as soon as they had passed by ; and Dabari, after affecting to fly till he reached a convenient scene of action, suffered himself to be overtaken, when his men dispersed in small parties among the hills and broken ground with which the place was surrounded. The Moguls, elated with their victory, broke up to pursue the fugi- tives. The Marattas allowed them to involve themselves in the ravines until they could no longer assemble, and then turned on them at once, cut the general and most of the detachment to pieces, and did not suffer one to escape till he was stripped of his horse, arms, and even clothes.18 The further progress of the campaign corresponded to this inauspicious commence- ment ; and the Marattas, in addition to the manifest inefficiency of their enemies, were encouraged by the intrigues of Farokhsir himself. At length Hosein Ali, finding that his presence could no longer be spared at Delhi, made a treaty with Raja Saho ; and agreed to acknowledge his claim to the whole of the territory formerly possessed by Sivaji, with the addition of later con- quests ; to restore all the forts in his possession within that tract ; to allow the levy of the chout,19 or fourth, over the whole of the Deckan ; and to make a further payment of one-tenth on the remaining revenue, under the name of sirdesmukhi. This tenth, with the cession of part of the territory, was all that had been demanded in the last negotiation with Aurangzib. In return, Saho was to pay a tribute of ten lacs of rupees, to 17 Grant Duff, vol. i. p. 431. 18 Seir ul Mutdkherin, vol. i. p. 142. Briggs' Seir ul Mutdkherin,^,vo\. i. 18 Grant Duff, vol. i. p. 44G. p. 141. 672 ABDULLAH KHAN A.D. 1717, A.H. 1130 furnish 15,000 horse, to preserve the tranquillity of the country, and to be answerable for any loss occasioned by depredations from whatever quarter. Though Saho had at this time a superiority in the Maratta civil war, a great part of the country thus acknowledged to be his was not in his possession ; and he was entirely unable to check the depredations of the hostile party, if he could those of his own adherents. But Hosein All's object wras attained by being enabled to withdraw his troops from the Deckan, and by obtaining the assistance of a body of 10,000 Mara tt as on his march to Delhi.20 Farokhsir refused to ratify this dis- graceful treaty. His refusal only served to hasten the crisis of the dispute between him and the Seiads. The ultimate occurrence of such an event had long become inevitable. Abdullah Khan, the elder of the brothers, though a man of talents, was indolent and fond of pleasure. His business of vazir, therefore, was left to his deputy, a Hindu named Rattan Chand,21 whose strict measures and arbitrary temper made his^ administration very unpopular. Encouraged by this circumstance, and by Abdullah's want of vigilance. Parokhsir began to form schemes for the recovery of his independence ; and reports arose of an intention on his part to seize the vazir's person. These rumours seemed confirmed by the proceedings of some large bodies of troops who had been suddenly dismissed from the king's service, and by the unexpected appearance of Mir Jumla, who had made a rapid and secret journey from Behar to Delhi. He represented himself as obliged to fly from the dangers to which he was exposed by the disaffection of the troops in his province : he was very coldly received by the emperor ; and he ostensibly threw himself on the vazir's protection, professing to have renounced all thoughts of public employment. But these appearances did not satisfy the vazir. He assembled his adherents, and prepared for the worst that might occur. Tf the emperor had entertained the design imputed to him, he had not the courage to carry it through. Overawed by the vazir's preparations, he hastened to appease his resentment, protested his anxious wish to maintain the administration on its present footing, and dismissed Mir Jumla to his native town of Multan. But this reconciliation was only superficial : the vazir retained a well-founded conviction of the emperor's insincerity; 20 Grant Duff, vol. i. p. 144, etc. Mohammedan Cazis of the provinces." 21 ["He was appointed financial (Sir H. Elliot, Suppl. Gloss, p. 443.) minister, and possessed such influence — ED.] as to be empowered to nominate the XII. 1 PLOTS OF FAROKHSIR 673 and the other almost immediately renewed his plots, which he took up with as much levity, and abandoned with as much pusillanimity, as before. His plan now was, to form a com- bination of the principal persons who were discontented with the vazir. Among these was Jei Sing, raja of Amber. This chieftain had been previously employed against the Jats, and had, by a long course of operations, reduced them to extremities, when the vazir opened a direct negotiation with an agent whom they had sent to Delhi, and granted them peace in a manner very derogatory to the honour of Jei Sing. Chin Kilich Khan, who had been removed from the viceroy alty of the Deckan to the petty government of Moradabad, was also ready to revenge the injury, and was summoned to Delhi : he was joined by Sirbuland Khan, governor of Behar : Raja A jit Sing, the emperor's father-in-law, was also sent for, but showed no inclination to embark in an enterprise directed by such unsteady hands, and soon after openly attached himself to the prevailing party. The other conspirators, however, were zealous ; and it was determined to assassinate the vazir on the occasion of a great annual solemnity, at which the number of troops well affected to the king would much surpass that of Abdullah's guards. But Farokhsir had now got a new favourite, a Cashmirian of low birth and profligate manners, on whom he conferred the title of Rokn ud Doula. By this man's per- suasion, which fell in with his natural timidity, he postponed the execution of the concerted plot ; and he afterwards pro- mised to his favourite the succession to the office of prime minister, and conferred on him, as a private jagir, the very district of which Chin Kilich Khan was governor. Disappointed and disgusted with this preference, and con- vinced that Farokhsir's irresolution must be fatal to any plan in which he was an actor, his confederates, with the exception of Jei Sing, lost no time in making their peace with the vazir. That minister, whose fears had been awakened by the previous appearances, had already called for the assistance of his brother from the Deckan ; and Hosein AH, who kept his army at his devotion, by carefully excluding persons appointed by the court from command, was now in full march on the capital. A.D. 1718, December; A.H. 1131, Moharram.22 Jei Sing endeavoured to excite the emperor to take some decisive step during the short interval that was left, but was unable to animate that feeble prince even with the courage of despair ; and Hosein Ali's first 22 This is the date of his march makes the year A.D. 1719, A.H. 1132; from Khandesh, taken from Khafi and many of its subsequent dates Khan ; Grant Duff also confirms the differ, in the same manner, from all year. The Seir ul Mutdkherin other authorities. (Briggs' translation, vol. i. p. 164) X X 674 FAROKHSIR KILLED A.D. 1718, A.H. 1131 demand, on his arrival, was for the dismission of the raja to his own territory. Farokhsir, thus at the mercy of his enemies, had recourse to the most abject submission. Hosein All remained encamped without the city ; but the vazir's guards were admitted into the palace, and it only remained to the brothers to decide on the fate of its tenant. In this state of affairs, some nobles who remained faithful to the emperor set out with their retainers to his assistance ; and a rising of the townspeople, for the purpose of massacring the Marattas, took place at the same time. In consequence of the confusion which followed, Hosein All marched into the city, of which he took possession after some opposition. It seemed no longer safe to spare Farokhsir ; and that unfortunate shadow of a king was dragged from his hiding-place in the seraglio, and privately put to death. Some of the fruits of Aurangzib's religious policy appeared during this reign. Enayat Ullah, who had been secretary to that monarch, being appointed to the head of the finance, endeavoured to enforce the capitation tax on Hindus with the rigour of his former master ; but he was soon forced to desist by the public clamour, and the tax was formally abolished in the next reign. There was a violent affray between the Shias and Sunnis in the capital, and a still more serious one, in Ahmedabad, between the Hindiis and Mussulmans, in which many lives were lost : on this occasion the Mussulman governor (Daud Khan Panni) took part with the Hindus. On the deposition of Farokhsir, the Seiads set up a young prince of the blood, to whom they gave the title of Rafi ud Darajdt. He died in little more than three months, of a consumption, when another youth of the -same description was set up under the name of Rafi ud Doula, and came to the same end in a still shorter period. These princes had been brought up in the recesses of the seraglio, without any prospect of the succession, and had the ideas of women superinduced on those of children. Their deaths must have been inconvenient to the Seiads, and thev */ pitched on a healthier young man as their successor. This was Roshen Akhter : he had no advantages in previous situation over the others ; but his mother was a woman of abilitv, and •/ * had perhaps helped to form his character, as she subsequently influenced his conduct. He was raised to the throne by the title of Mohammed Shah.23 23 At Mohammed's accession it was commence from the death of Farokh- determined that the names of his two sir. (Seir ul Mutdkherin, vol. i. p. predecessors should be left out of the 197. Grant Duff, vol. i. p. 450. list of kings, and that his reign should Marsden, Numismata Orientalia.) XII. 2 MOHAMMED SHAH 675 CHAPTER II TO THE DEPARTURE OF NADIR SHAH A.D. 1719, AH. 1131— A.D. 1739, A.H. 1153 General indignation against the Seiads, September, A.D. 1719; Zi Caada, A.H. 1131 — Internal dissensions of their party — Insurrections — Proceed- ings of A'saf Jah — He establishes his power in the Deckan, April, A.D. 1720; Jamada's Sani, A.H. 1132 — Defeats the armies of the Seiads, June and July, A.D. 1720 — Alarm at Delhi — Prudent conduct of Mohammed Shah — His plans against the Seiads — Mohammed Amin Khan — Sadat Khan — Hosein Ali marches against A'saf Jah, accom- panied by the emperor — Assassination of Hosein Ali, October, A.D. 1720; Zi Haj 6, A.H. 1132 — The emperor assumes the government — Difficult situation of Abdullah Khan — He sets up a new emperor — Assembles an army, November, A.D. 1720; Moharram, A.H. 1133 — Is defeated and taken prisoner, Nov. or Dec., A.D. 1720 ; Safar, A.H. 1133 — Sudden death of Mohammed Amin, the new vazir, January, A.D. 1721 ; Rabi ul awwal, A.H. 1133 — Rapid decline of the monarchy, A.D. 1721, A.H. 1133 — A'saf Jah vazir, January, A.D. 1722; Rabi us Sani, A.H. 1134 — Indolence of the emperor — His favourites — His dislike to A'saf Jah — A'saf Jah sent against the refractory governor of Guzerat — Quells the insurrection, and retains the government of the province — Expedition against the Jats of Bhartpur — Disgust of A'saf Jah — He resigns his office, and sets off for the Deckan, Octo- ber, A.D. 1723; Moharram, A.H. 1136 — The emperor instigates Mobariz Khan, governor of Heiderabad, to supplant him — Mobariz defeated and slain, October, A.D. 1724; Moharram, A.H. 1137 — A'saf Jah's policy towards the Marattas — Consolidation of the Maratta govern- ment— Balaji Wiswanath peshwa — Establishes the government of Saho — Dies — His complicated revenue system — His motives — Baji Rao peshwa — His enterprising policy — Character of Saho, and of Baji Rao — Baji Rao ravages Malwa — Obtains a cession by the governor of the chout of Guzerat, A.D. 1725, A.H. 1138 — A'saf Jah foments the dissensions of the Marattas — He is attacked, and compelled to make concessions, A.D. 1727, A.H. 1140 — Accommodation, between Saho and his rival Samba, A.D. 1730, A.H. 1142 — Renewed intrigues of A'saf Jah — Dabari, a great Maratta chief in Guzerat — Marches to depose the peshwa — Is anticipated by Baji Rao, defeated and killed, April, A.D. 1731; Shawwal, A.H. 1143 — Moderation of Baji Rao in settling Guze- rat— Origin of the families of Puar, Holcar, and Sindia — Compromise between Baji Rao and A'saf Jah — Raja Abhi Sing of Marwar, viceroy of Guzerat — Procures the assassination of Pilaji Geikwar — Retalia- tion of the Marattas — Abhi Sing retires to Marwar — Successes of Baji Rao in Malwa — Obtains possessions in Bundelcand — Raja Jei Sing II., viceroy of Malwa — His tacit surrender of the province to the Marattas, A.D. 1734 — Baji Rao increases his demands, A.D. 1730 — Further cessions by the emperor — Alarm of A'saf Jah — He is reconciled to the emperor — Baji Rao appears before Delhi, A.D. 1737, A.H. 1149 —He retreats, A.D. 1737, A.H. 1150 — Arrival of A'saf Jah at Delhi- Marches against Baji Rao — Is attacked by Baji Rao, near Bopal, January, A.D. 1738 — And constrained to make great cessions on the emperor's part, February, A.D. 1738; Ramazan, A.H. 1150 — Invasion of Nadir Shah — Previous transactions in Persia — Western Afghans — Ghil- jeis — Abdalis (or Durranis) — Revolt of the Ghiljeis — Conquest of Persia by the Ghiljeis — Their tyrannical government — Their wrars with the Turks and Russians — Rise of Nadir Shah — He drives out the Ghiljeis, and recovers Khorasan from the Abdalis — Renewed invasion of the Abdalis — Nadir takes Herat, and gains the attachment of the Abdalis —He deposes Tahmasp Shah — Is himself elected king — He suppresses the Shia religion — Invades the Ghiljeis — Takes Caiidahar — His con- 676 CHIN KILICH KHAN A.D. 1719, A.H. 1131 ciliatory policy — His difference with the government of India, May, A.D. 1738 ; Safar, A.H. 1151 — Supineness of the court of Delhi, Octo- ber, A.D. 1738; Shaban, A.H. 1151 — Nadir invades India, November, A.D. 1738 ; Ramazan, A.H. 1151 — Defeats Mohammed Shah, February 13, A.D 1739; Zi Caada 15, A.H. 1151 — Advances to Delhi, March, A.D. 1739; Zi Haj, A.H. 1151 — Insurrection of the inhabitants — General massacre by the Persians — Nadir's extortions — His rapacity and violence — He prepares to return — The country west of the Indus ceded to him — Mohammed Shah restored — Amount of the treasures carried off by Nadir Shah. Mohammed Shah THE murder of Farokhsir (in spite of his personal character, and the familiarity of such a catastrophe in Asia) produced a general feeling of horror, and led to suspicions regarding the premature deaths of his successors. The frequent change of pageants also drew attention to the moving power, which they were intended to veil. The authority of the Seiads, thus shaken in the public opinion, was further impaired by their own disagreement, as well as by the discontent of some of their principal adherents, and soon began to show signs of weakness in the inefficiency of the internal government. The governor of Allahabad a Hindu) rebelled ; and, although Hosein All went against him in person, he only gave up his province on condition that he should receive that of Oudh in exchange ; the tributary state of Bundi required a strong force to settle some disturbances that broke out there ; while the Afghan chief of Kosur, in the south of the Panjab, revolted, defeated the royal troops, and was not subdued without an effort. A furious contest between Hindus and Mussulmans also took place in Cashmir, in which the efforts of the government to maintain tranquillity were unavailing, until some thousand persons had fallen on the two sides, and much loss of property had been sustained. The most alarming sign of the times was in the proceedings of Chin Kilich Khan. This chief (whom, anticipating the title, I shall henceforth call A'saf Jah, and whose descendants are known to Europeans as Nizams of the Deckan) was of a respectable Turk family, and was the son of Ghazi ud din, a favourite officer of Aurangzib, under which emperor he also distinguished himself. He showed spirit in maintaining his dignity during the depression of the nobility by the mistress of Jehandar Shah and her relations ; l and subsequently rose 1 Being rudely stopped in a narrow to repel force with force, dispersed the street, to make way for a woman who favourite's retinue, and compelled her had unbounded influence with the to quit her elephant, and escape on mistress, and through her with the foot to the palace. emperor, he ordered his attendants XII. 2 THE SEIADS IRRESOLUTE 077 to importance (as has been related) by his services as viceroy of the Deckan. He had quitted the party of Farokhsir because he found he was not to be prime minister ; and yet, on the success of his new allies, he was not even restored to his viceroyalty, but made governor of the single province of Malwa. The disturbed state of that country gave him a pretence for raising troops ; and he became so formidable to the Seiads that they made a feeble attempt to remove him, offering him the choice of four other governments. This only showed A'saf Jah that the time for dissembling was passed ; and as he saw the difficulty of establishing a permanent control at the capital, he determined to lay the foundations of his power on a firmer basis, and turned his first attention to the conquest of the Deckan. He had there manv old connexions both with the +f Mussulmans and the Marattas. Immediately on his revolt he marched to the Nerbadda. By intrigue and money he obtained possession of the fort of Asirghar, and procured the junction of several officers of the province. He was pursued from Hindostan by a force under Dilawer Khan (a Seiad of Bara), and another, under A 'lam All Khan (the nephew of the usurping brothers), was awaiting him at Aurangabad. Taking advantage of the impetuous character of Dilawer, he drew him into an engagement before he could be supported by his colleague, and totally defeated him in a battle fought near Burhanpur ; Dilawer Khan himself was among the slain. He then turned against A 'lam All, whose force, though weakened by the desertion of some chiefs, gained by A'saf Jah, was still very powerful. A battle took place at Ballapur in Berar, in which large bodies of Marattas were engaged on both sides, and which terminated in the defeat and death of A'lam Ali. These events threw the Seiads into consternation, and, though secretly agreeable to the emperor and many of the nobility, filled the minds of reflecting men with dismal forebod- ings of the ruin of the empire. This gloom was rendered deeper among a superstitious people by a violent earthquake which occurred about this time, and seemed to threaten the existence of the capital ; and in these depressing circumstances the brothers betrayed those signs of irresolution which are often the forerunners of great calamities. Mohammed Shah (tutored by his mother) had carefully avoided any opposition to the Seiads, and patiently waited for some change of circumstances favourable to the assertion of his own authority. He now began, with the utmost secrecy, to deliberate what could be done to accelerate his deliverance. His counsellor in this dangerous undertaking was Mohammed 678 HOSEIN ALI KILLED A.D. 1720, A.H. 1132 Amin Khan, one'of the noblemen who had deserted Farokhsir, when he proved a traitor to his own cause, and who had since adhered to the Seiads, though full of envy and disgust at their power and arrogance. He was in the habit of conversing in Turki with Mohammed, and by means of that language, which was unknown to Indian Seiads, he was able to ascertain the sentiments of the emperor, although closely surrounded by the connexions and creatures of the brothers. Hints interchanged in this manner paved the way to more private communications, and a party was gradually formed, the second place in which was occupied by Sadat Khan, originally a merchant of Khorasan, who had risen to a military command, and was the progenitor of the present kings of Oudh. These combinations, however secret, did not fail to excite obscure apprehensions in the minds of the Seiads, and occasioned much perplexity about the manner of disposing of the emperor during the approaching contest with A'saf Jah. It was at length decided that Hosein All should march to the Deckan, and should carry the emperor and some of the suspected nobles along with him, while Abdullah should remain at Delhi, and watch over the interests of his family at home. After much hesitation the brothers quitted Agra, and each marched off towards his destined station. The separation was judged by the conspirators to afford an opportunity for exe- cuting their designs. It was determined to assassinate Hosein Ali, and Mir Heider, a savage Calmuc — who (though a man of some rank in his own country) was ready for the most desperate enterprise — was pitched on to strike the blow. He waited for his victim as he passed in his palankin, and attracted his attention by holding up a petition. Hosein Ali made a sign to his attendants to allow him to approach, and was about to read the petition, when Mir Heider plunged his dagger into his body. The blow was fatal : Hosein Ali rolled out a corpse from the opposite side of the palankin, and Mir Heider was cut to pieces in an instant by the fury of the attendants. The death of this powerful minister threw the whole camp into commotion. A fierce conflict took place between his adherents, many of whom were Seiads like himself, and the partisans of the conspirators, who were joined by numbers whose only object was to protect the emperor. Mohammed was with some difficulty prevailed on to show himself at the head of his own friends, and his appearance materially contributed to decide the fate of the day. The party of the Seiads was driven from the field, and many of its members, with all the neutral part of the army, made their submission to the emperor. The intelligence of this event reached Abdullah Khan XII. 2 MOHAMMED SHAH AT DELHI 679 before he entered Delhi. Painful as it was in itself, it was as alarming in its consequences, Abdullah had now to oppose his sovereign without either right or any popular pretext in his favour, and he was made aware of his situation by the imme- diate breaking out of disturbances in the country around him. But his energy rose with his danger. He proclaimed one of the princes confined at Delhi king, conferred offices and dignities in his name, and applied himself with vigour to strengthening his cause by securing the services of troops and officers. Few men of rank adhered to him ; but by means of high pay he drew together a large, though ill-disciplined army. He marched in a little more than a fortnight after his brother's death, and was joined as he advanced by Choraman, the raja of the Jats, and by many of his brother's soldiers, who deserted after having submitted to the emperor. On the other hand, Mohammed was reinforced by the arrival of 4,000 horse, hastily sent forward by Raja Jei Sing, and of some chiefs of the Rohilla Afghans. The armies met between Agra and Delhi. Abdullah was defeated and taken prisoner ; his life was spared, probably from respect for his sacred lineage. Mohammed Shah immediately proceeded to Delhi, which he entered in great pomp, and celebrated his emancipation by an extensive distribution of offices and rewards. Mohammed Amin was made vazir ; but he had scarcely entered on his office when he was taken ill, and died in a few hours. In most cases, the sudden death of a prime minister would have been attributed to poison ; but in this instance there was a manner of accounting for it still more acceptable to the popular love of wonder. An impostor had made his appearance at Delhi some years before, who produced a new scripture, written in a language of his own invention, framed from those spoken in ancient Persia, and had founded a sect in which the teachers were called Bekuks and the disciples Ferabuds. He had become so considerable at the accession of Mohammed that the new vazir sent a party of soldiers to apprehend him. Before he was taken into custody, the vazir was seized with a violent illness, and his family, in alarm, endeavoured by presents and entreaties to avert the anger of the holy man. The Bekuk coldly avowed the miracle, but said his shaft, once shot, could not be recalled. He was nevertheless left undisturbed, and lived for some years after. The office of vazir was only filled by a temporary substitute, being ultimately designed for A'saf Jah. Meanwhile, every day brought some fresh proof of the decline of the monarchy. The government of Guzerat had been conferred on Raja A jit Sing, as a reward for his adherence 680 A'SAF JAH A.D. 1721, A.H. 1133 to the Seiads ; the addition of that of Ajmir had been secretly promised by Mohammed, as the price of his friendship or neutrality in the contest between himself and those brothers, and a grant for life of both governments had been delivered to him under the royal seal. In spite of these engagements, A jit was now removed from Guzerat ; and although his deputy, a Rajput, endeavoured to keep possession by force, he was driven out by the Mussulmans of the province, and compelled to take refuge with his master at Jodpur. Ajit Sing, on this, occupied Ajmir with a large army of Rajputs, took and plundered Narnol, and advanced his parties to Rewari, within fifty miles of Delhi. All attempts to check his progress had been rendered ineffectual by the dissensions of the generals ordered against him, and their reluctance to undertake the duty ; and when, at last, the commander-in-chief moved out to protect the capital, he was glad to agree to the terms originally proposed by Ajit, that he should submit to the loss of Guzerat on condi- tion of being confirmed in Ajmir.2 Soon after this, A'saf Jah arrived at Delhi, and took posses- sion of the office of vazir. Though he had for some time been apprised of his appointment, he thought it of more importance to secure his independence in the Deckan than to seize on the authority held out to him at the capital. He had been engaged in many transactions with the Marattas, who were rapidly assuming the form of a regular government, and it was not till he had settled affairs in that quarter to his satisfaction that he repaired to Delhi. He found the court in a state of the utmost weakness and disorder. The emperor was given up to pleasure ; his favourite advisers were young men of the same pursuits, and his mistress had such an ascend- ency over him that she was allowed to keep his private signet, and to use it at her discretion. This state of things gave great disgust to A'saf Jah, brought up at the austere court of Aurangzib, and, in spite of his predilection for intrigue, both able and willing to conduct a vigorous administration ; but he had neither the boldness nor the power to seize the government by force : and he made no progress in gaining the confidence of the emperor, who felt himself constrained by his grave manners, and importuned by his attempts to draw attention to public business, and who had no greater pleasure than to see his antiquated dress and formal courtesy burlesqued by his own dissolute companions. After some months of mutual dissatisfaction, the emperor and his favourites thought they had devised a plan to free themselves from their troublesome counsellor. Heider Culi, 2 Seir ul Mutdkherin. Tod's Rdjasthdn. XII. 2 THE EMPEROR AND HIS VAZIR 681 the governor of Guzerat, though one of the principal actors in the revolution which restored the royal authority, was offen- sive to the cabal for his proud and inflexible disposition : and they hoped, by embroiling him with A'saf Jah, that both might be rendered more dependent on the court. They accordingly directed Heider Culi to give up his government to A'saf Jah ; on which the former chief, as they expected, repaired to his station, and made ready to defend his pos- session of it by force of arms. But this deep-laid scheme ended in sudden disappointment ; for their subtle adversary so well employed his talents for intrigue and corruption that his rival's army deserted almost in a body, and he speedily returned to Delhi, strengthened by the addition of a rich province to his former exorbitant command. No event of importance succeeded to A'saf Jah's return, except the murder of the deputy-governor of Agra by the Jats ; on which Raja Jei Sing,3 the old enemy of that people, was appointed governor of Agra for the purpose of revenging the outrage. Choraman, the aged raja of the Jats, happened to die during the expedition ; and Jei Sing, by dexterously supporting his nephew against his son and successor, brought about a division among the Jats, and at last placed the nephew in possession, on condition of his paying tribute to Delhi. The mutual aversion of the emperor and his vazir was not diminished after the return of the minister ; and it was, prob- ably, at the moment, a relief to Mohammedwhen A'saf Jah, after securing his safety by removing, on some pretence, from the capital, sent in his resignation and marched off for the Deckan. But this measure amounted, in reality, to a declaration of independence, and was viewed in that light by the emperor himself ; who, although he graciously accepted A'saf Jah's resignation, and conferred on him the highest titles that could be held by a subject,4 did not on that account remit his active hostility. He sent orders to Mobariz Khan, the local governor of Heiderabad, to endeavour to dispossess the viceroy, and assume the government of the whole Deckan in his stead. Mobariz entered zealously on the task imposed on him ; and by the sanction of the emperor's name, joined to his own influence and the enmity of individuals to his rival, he succeeded •/ ' in collecting a powerful army. A'saf Jah, always more inclined to art than force, protracted his negotiations for several months, during which he endeavoured to sow sedition among 3 Khafi Khan. Scott's Deckan, kherin ; but probably all on one vol. ii. p. 187. Briggs and Grant authority. Duff make it Ajit Sing, as does the 4 [Vakil i mutlak, or lieutenant of old translation of the Seir ul Mutd- the empire. — ED.] 682 BALAJI WISWANATH A.D. 1724, A.H. 1137 Mobariz 's adherents. As he made little progress in this mode of hostility, he at last came to open war, and soon gained a decided victory over Mobariz, who lost his life in the battle. As the emperor had not avowed the attack which he had instigated, A'saf Jah, not to be outdone in dissimulation, sent the head of Mobariz to court with his own congratulations on the extinction of the rebellion. He then fixed his residence at Heiderabad ; and though he continued to send honorary presents, on fixed occasions, to the emperor, he thenceforth conducted himself, in other respects, as an independent prince. But, although he was beyond the reach of attack from his former sovereign, he was by no means equally secure from his neighbours the Marattas. Their power, being now con- centrated and in able hands, was too great for any resistance that he could oppose to it, and all the refinements of his artful policy were for a time employed to divert it from himself, and to turn it against his enemies at Delhi. The change in the state of the Maratta government had been gradually brought about during a considerable period, and requires to be taken up from the commencement. Though Saho had been set up as raja by the Moguls, it suited the policy of A'saf Jah, during his first government of the Deckan (A.D. 1713 to A.D. 1716), to assist his rival. Samba, at that time the weaker of the competitors. Other circumstances tended, soon after, to depress the party of Saho, who would never have recovered his superiority but for the abilities of his minister, Balaji Wiswanath. This person (the founder of the Bramin dynasty of Peshwas) was the hereditary accountant of a village in the Concan. He afterwards entered into the service of a chief of the Jadu family, whence he was transferred to that of the raja. He distinguished himself by many services ; the most important of which was his bringing over A'ngria (a powerful chief as well as famous pirate), in the Concan, from the side of Samba to that of Saho. His merits were at length rewarded with the office of peshwa, at that time the second in the state ; the pirti nidhi,5 or delegate of the raja, being the first. It was through his means that the cession of territory and tribute was obtained from Hosein All Khan (A.D. 1717), and he was joint commander of the Maratta force that accompanied that minister to Delhi. At that time Saho (without in other respects laying aside the titles or the independence assumed by his predecessors) was content, in his intercourse with the Mogul court, to acknowledge himself a vassal of the empire. It was 5 [Or, more properly, pratinidhi. — ED.] XII. 2 A REVISED REVENUE SYSTEM 683 professedly in this quality that his troops accompanied Hosein Ali, and the fall of that chief did not necessarily make any change in their relation to the government. Under this view Balaji remained at Delhi after the death of Farokhsir, and ultimately obtained a ratification of the treaty by Mohammed Shah (A.D. 1720). This recognition of his authority, together with other advantages, had established the ascendency of Saho over his rival ; and Balaji, before his death (which happened in October 1720), had the satisfaction of seeing him placed above the assaults of enemies, either foreign or domestic. The cessions by the treaty having given legality to what before was mere robbery enabled Balaji to introduce some degree of order into the Maratta mode of collection. It appears extraordinary, at first sight, that he did not prefer a solid territorial possession to assignments on other proprietors, such as the chout and sirdesmukhi ; or that he did not, at least, consolidate those dues, by throwing those on the same territory into one head, and uniting it with the land revenue where that also belonged to the Marattas. But it was by no means his object to simplify the claims of his government. He knew, from the relative power of the parties, that the raja would be a gainer in all disputed points with the Moguls, and was more anxious to obtain a pretext for interference and encroachment over an extensive territory than clearly defined rights within a small one. In furtherance of this policy, he claimed, as chout, one-fourth of the permanent revenue fixed by Todar Mai and Malik Amber, of which but a small portion was now realized from the exhausted country ; and although he did not enforce this principle to its full extent, it still served to keep his claim undefined. It was not in dealing with the Moguls alone that he profited by keeping up this system of confusion : by granting the chout and sirdesmukhi to different persons, and even inventing new subdivisions, so as to admit of further partition, he parcelled out the revenues of every district among several Maratta chiefs ; so that, while each had an interest in increasing the contributions to the general stock, none had a compact property such as might render him independent of the government. The intricacy produced in the affairs of the Maratta chiefs, by these innumerable fractions of revenue, led to another effect that Balaji had quite as much at heart ; it threw them entirely into the hands of their Bramin agents, and strengthened the peshwa's power by increasing that of his cast. But, though this system of subdivision was general, it was not universal ; some chiefs had already landed possessions in the old territory ; and similar grants, more or less extensive, continued to be made from special favour. 684 BAJI RAO Every chief required a village or two for his head-quarters, and all were anxious to possess the government claims on those of which they were natives or hereditary officers. Balaji Wiswanath was succeeded by his son Baji Rao, the ablest of all the Bramin dynasty, and of all the Maratta nation except Sivaji. Baji Rao did not at once enjoy the whole authority that had been possessed by his father. He had a powerful rival in the pirti nidhi, and the interests of those politicians were not more opposed than their opinions. The pirti nidhi was sincerely apprehensive of the effects of a further diffusion of the Maratta power ; and he strenuously contended for the necessity of consolidating the raja's present possessions, suppressing civil discord, and acquiring a firm hold on the countries in the south of the peninsula, before attempting to make any conquests in Hindostan. Baji Rao took a wiser as well as bolder view. He saw that the hordes of predatory horse, who were so useful in an enemy's country, would be utterly ungovernable at home ; and that it was only by forming an army, and establishing a military command, that an efficient internal government could be brought into existence. He therefore counselled an immediate invasion of the northern provinces, and pointed out the inward weakness of the Mogul empire, which was nowhere so rotten as at the core : " Let us strike," said he, " the withered trunk, and the branches will fall of themselves." The eloquence and earnest- ness with which he pressed his advice overcame all the doubts of the raja ; and when urged by Baji Rao to allow him to carry his standard beyond the Nerbadda, he exclaimed, with enthu- siasm, " You shall plant it on Himalaya." 6 The results of these debates gave Baji Rao a preponderance in the counsels of the raja, and his ascendency daily increased from the necessity for his assistance. Though Saho was not destitute of abilities, his education in a Mussulman seraglio was alike unfavourable to hardiness of body and activity of mind ; while Baji Rao, born in a camp, and trained up a statesman and diplomatist, combined the habits of a Maratta horseman with an enlarged judgment and extensive knowledge. Unlike his cold-blooded brethren of the priestly class, his temper was ardent and his manner frank ; he never flinched from fatigue or danger, and could make a meal of dry grain rubbed out of the husks between his hands as he rode along on a march. His designs on the northern provinces were aided by the Moguls themselves. Shortly before the battle with Mobariz, 6 Grant Duff, and Maratta MSS. quoted by that author, vol. i. pp. 482—486. XII. 2 DESIGNS AGAINST THE MARATTAS 685 A'saf Jah was removed from his governments of Malwa and Guzerat. Raja Girdhar was appointed to the former province, and found no difficulty in occupying it while the troops were drawn off to the contest in the Deckan, but was unable to defend it from the incursions of Baji Rao ; and in Guzerat, Hamid Khan, A'saf's uncle, not only offered a strenuous resist- ance himself, but directly called in the aid of the Marattas. In return, he gave up to them the chout and sirdesmukhi of the country under him ; and Sirbuland Khan, the lawful governor, though successful in expelling Hamid, was, after a long struggle, obliged to confirm the grant. Notwithstanding the loss of these governments, A'saf Jah's power was now so well established in the Deckan, that he thought he might venture on an attempt to reduce that of his formidable neighbours. For this purpose he again availed himself of their internal dissensions. He first applied himself to the pirti nidhi, and by his means had nearly concluded a treaty, by which the chout and sirdesmukhi on the country round his new capital were to be commuted for a territorial cession and a fixed pecuniary payment ; but Baji Rao, faithful to his system of indefinite claims, and no doubt offended by the interference of his old rival, gave his decided opposition to the execution of the agreement ; and A'saf gained nothing by the negotiation, except the advantage of exasperating the jealousies of the Maratta ministers. His next attempt of the same nature was of more im- portance. Samba,7 the claimant to the Maratta throne, though eclipsed by the superior fortune of Saho, had fixed the seat of his government at Colapur, and retained the southern part of the dominions of his family, while he continued to assert his claim to the whole. A'saf Jah, without formally espousing his cause, affected to be in doubt to whom he ought to pay the money due from his country to the Marattas, and called on the parties to exhibit the grounds of their respective claims. This demand was highly resented by Saho, and his anger found a willing instrument in Baji Rao. At the end of the rainy season, the peshwa invaded A'saf's territories, and first threatened Burhanpur ; but when A'saf Jah (now openly joined by Samba) moved to the relief of that city, Baji Rao changed the direction of his march, made a rapid incursion into Guzerat (where the chout had not at that time been con- firmed), and, after ravaging the province with fire and sword, 7 [" Sivaji, the idiot son of Tara Sambhaji, the son of Rajis Bai, tho Bai, died of the smallpox in Jan., younger widow of Raja Ram, in her 1712; and Ramchander Pant seized stead." (Duff's Mahrattas, vol. i. p. the opportunity to remove Tara Bai 425.) — ED.] from the administration, and to place 686 DABARI SLAIN A.D. 1729, A.H. 1141-2 returned with equal celerity to the Deckan. He now laid waste the country round A'saf's army, and so straitened his supplies, by the usual Maratta means, that he was obliged to renounce his connexion with Samba, and to concede some other advantages to the Maratta government. After this adjustment, Baji Rao crossed the Nerbadda to ravage Malwa, and to extort Sirbuland Khan's confirmation of his predecessor's grant of the chout of Guzerat. During his absence the pirti nidhi surprised and defeated Samba, and at last compelled him to sign a treaty acknow- ledging Saho's right to the whole Maratta country, except a tract round Colapur, bounded on the west by the sea. This portion he was himself to retain, with the title of raja, and the same dignity as that assumed by Saho. Though this success raised the reputation of the pirti nidhi, it did not enable him to enter the lists with the peshwa, and A'saf was obliged to look out for some other instrument to disturb the Maratta government. He found one in the head of the familv of Dabari, the \s hereditary senapati or commander-in-chief. This leader had been the principal means of establishing the Maratta power in Guzerat, and saw with indignation the fruit of his labours carried off by another. His jealousy derived additional bitterness by the ascendency acquired by the peshwa, who now conducted the government without the least control on the part of the raja. Incited by these feelings, and the promise of powerful co-operation from A'saf Jah, Dabari assembled an army of 35,000 men, and set out for the Deckan, with the professed object of delivering the raja from the thraldom of his minister. Baji Rao had not an equal force at his disposal ; but what he had was composed of old troops, and he saw the advantage of promptitude in acting against a combination. Without allowing time for A'saf Jah to declare himself, he crossed the Nerbadda, entered Guzerat, and encountered Dabari not far from Baroda. The superiority of his veterans over Dabari's less experienced troops decided the victory in his favour, and he used it with prudence and moderation. Dabari having fallen in the action, he conferred his office, in the raja's name, on his son, and left him in possession of the Maratta rights of Guzerat, on condition of his paying half the produce, through the peshwa, to the government. As the son was an infant, his mother was appointed his guardian, and Guzerat was to be administered in his behalf by Pilaji Geikwar, an adherent of his father, and ancestor of the Geikwar family that still rules in Guzerat. XII. 2 COMPACT BETWEEN A'SAF AND BAJI RAO 687 Most of the other great Maratta families had also their origin a little before this time, When Baji Rao began his incursions into Malwa, he gave commands to U'daji Puar, Malhar Rao Holcar, and Ranaji Sindia. The first of these was a chief before his connexion with the peshwa : he soon acquired a territory about Dhar, on the borders of Guzerat and Malwa, but never rose to such power as his colleagues or their descendants. Holcar was a shepherd on the Nira, south of Puna ; and Sindia, though of a respectable family near Statara, was in such abject poverty as to be a menial servant of Baji Rao. These chiefs, and others of this period, were no longer adventurers warring at the head of their own retainers, but officers of the peshwa, commanding divisions of his troops, and acting under his commission. Baji Rao had now the means of punishing the machinations of A'saf Jah, but both parties began to perceive the advantages of a mutual good understanding : Baji Rao saw how much his supremacy at home would be endangered, during remote expeditions, by the enmity of so powerful and so insidious a neighbour ; and A'saf, besides other grounds of apprehension, felt by no means secure that the emperor might not revenge his defiance of the -royal authority by transferring the viceroyalty to the peshwa, in whose hands such a title would not be inoperative. Accordingly, not long after Baji Rao's return, the two usurpers entered into a secret compact, by which it was settled that A'saf should support the government of Baji Rao, while the other carried his arms into Malwa, and pushed his conquests over the emperor's remaining dominions. Baji Rao had, at this period, strong motives of his own for extending his views in the country beyond the Nerbadda. Immediately after his departure from Guzerat, the court of Delhi refused to ratify the grant of chout, removed Sirbuland Khan from the government, and conferred it on Abhi Sing, raja of Jodpur. The appointment of an independent prince to such a charge would have been objectionable at any time ; and the profligate character of Abhi Sing, who had acquired his power by the murder of his father, A jit,8 did not promise much fidelity on his part ; but he possessed resources not enjoyed by the Mogul government, and seemed able, by his own means, both to expel Sirbuland and to defend the province against the Marattas. The first of these objects was attained in one campaign ; the second was not so easy of accomplishment. Pilaji Geikwar, though driven out of Baroda, still continued so formidable that the unprincipled Abhi Sing saw no means of overcoming 8 Tod's Rujasthdn, vol. ii. p. 91. 688 RAJA JEI SING A.D. 1732, A.H. 1145 him except by procuring his assassination. This crime only roused the indignation of the Marattas, without weakening their power. The son and brother of Pilaji appeared in greater force than ever, and not only ravaged Guzerat them- selves, but raised all the surrounding hill- tribes of Bhils and Colis, and threw the whole province into revolt and confusion. While the Rajput prince was completely occupied by these disturbances, the Geikwars made a sudden irruption into his hereditary territory, and penetrated to the neighbourhood of Jodpur itself. This attack, and the threatening aspect of the Maratta force in Malwa, compelled Abhi Sing to withdraw to his own principality, and the deputy whom he left in Guzerat could make but a feeble stand against the Marattas. The affairs of that nation were not less prosperous in Malwa. Girdhar Sing, the governor of that province, had fallen in a battle with Baji Rao's officers (in 1729) ; and his nephew, Deia Ram, who succeeded him, and had opposed a gallant resistance till this time, was defeated by Chimnaji, the peshwa's brother, and lost his life in the battle. When Baji Rao entered Malwa in person (1732), the government was in the hands of Mohammed Khan Bangash, an Afghan chief, who was also governor of Allahabad. He was at that period employed against a raja in Bundelcand, which lay between his two provinces ; and the raja, reduced to extremities, had recourse to the aid of the Marattas. Baji Rao immediately obeyed the summons, came suddenly on Moham- med Khan, and before long compelled him to take refuge in a fort. The government of Delhi was too weak to afford him any relief, and he must have surrendered at discretion, but for the exertions of his own family. His wife sent her veil (the strongest appeal to Afghan honour) to her countrymen in Rohilcand . His son put himself at the head of the volunteers thus assembled, and by these means he was delivered from his difficulties and escorted to Allahabad. But this rescue of his person did nothing for his province. The raja of Bundelcand ceded the territory of Jansi, on the Jumna, in return for the services of Baji Rao ; and afterwards, at his death, left him rights in Bundelcand, which in time led to the occupation of the whole of that country by the Marattas. Mohammed Khan's ill success procured his removal from Malwa, and the province was conferred on Raja Jei Sing of Amber. This prince, whose love of science makes him one of the most remarkable persons of his nation, was by no means so dis- tinguished for his firmness or decision. His hereditary con- nexion with the Marattas, although not sufficient to induce XII. 2 A'SAF JAH AND THE EMPEROR 689 him to betray his trust, facilitated an accommodation after he found resistance desperate ; and the result was, that, in the succeeding year, he surrendered his province to the peshwa, with the tacit concurrence of the emperor, on whose behalf the territory was still to be held. But if the Moguls thought to obtain permanent forbearance from Baji Rao by concession, they knew little of him or his nation ; for though he for a time turned his attention to the internal affairs of the Deckan, he continued to press the formal cession of the chout and sirdesmukhi of Malwa and Guzerat, and directed the chiefs whom he had left behind him to carry their incursions up to Agra. The Moguls on their part made great demonstrations, and sent out unwieldy and feebly conducted armies, whose operations served only to expose them to the contempt of the enemy. After some lapse of time Baji Rao again took up the negotia- tion in person ; and in proportion as the progress of it disclosed the weakness of his adversaries, he continued to rise in his demands, until at length he insisted on the grant of a jagir, comprising the province of Malwa and all the country south of the Chambal, together with the holy cities of Mattra, Allahabad, and Benares. The emperor, though all his attempts at open resistance proved futile, was not reduced quite so low as to submit to such terms. He endeavoured to pacify the Marattas by minor sacrifices, and those they accepted without receding from their great object. Among the concessions were a right to levy tribute on the Rajputs, and to increase that already due from the territories of A'saf Jah. These were, doubtless, given with a view to embroil the Marattas with the last-named powers, and they did not quite fail of their purpose ; for A'saf Jah began to perceive that he was pushing his present policy too far, and that he had now as much to fear from the weakness of the emperor as he formerly had from his enmity. At the same time he was assiduously courted by the cabinet of Delhi, who no longer looked on him as a rebellious subject, but as a natural ally, capable of rescuing them from the danger that hung over them. The result of this state of circumstances was to determine A'saf Jah to support the emperor ; but while he was engaged in these deliberations, Baji Rao was advancing towards the capital. By the time he had himself arrived within forty miles of Agra, his light troops were ravaging the country beyond the Jumna, under the command of Malhar Rao Holcar ; and while so employed they were attacked and driven back on the main body by Sadat Khan, governor of Oudh, who, with a spirit very unlike his contemporaries, issued from his own Y Y 690 BAJI RAO AT DELHI A.D. 1737, A.H. 1149 province to defend that adjoining. This check, which was magnified into a great victory, and accompanied by reports of the retreat to the Deckan of the whole Maratta army, only stimulated Baji Rao to wipe off the disgrace, and (as he said himself) to show the emperor that he was still in Hindostan. An army had been sent out to oppose him, under the vazir, Kamar ud din Khan. While it lay inactive near Mattra, Baji Rao suddenly quitted the Jumna, passed off about fourteen miles to the right of the Mogul army, and, advancing by prodigious marches, all at once presented himself before the gates of Delhi. The consternation produced by his appearance may easily be imagined ; but, as his object was to intimidate and not provoke the emperor, he forebore from further aggression, and endeavoured to prevent the destruction of the suburbs. He was unable entirely to restrain the devastations of his followers, and he made that a pretext for drawing off to some distance from the city. This retrograde movement induced the Moguls to attempt a sally, and they were driven back into the town with heavy loss. By this time, however, the vazir had been joined by Sadat Khan, and was on his march to relieve the capital ; and Baji Rao deemed it prudent to commence his retreat — a step involving no dishonour, according to the Maratta rules of war. His intention, at the time, was to have crossed the Jumna lower down, and to have plundered the country between that river and the Ganges ; but the approach of the rainy season, and the advance of A'saf Jah, determined him to return at once to the Deckan, where his presence was also required for other objects. After the peshwa's retreat, A'saf Jah pursued his march to Delhi, and was invested with full powers to call out all the resources of the state ; while the governments of Malwa and Guzerat were conferred on his eldest son, Ghazi ud din. But to so low a point was the power of the empire reduced, that, with all the means at his disposal, he could only complete the army under his personal command to the number of 34,000 men. He was, however, furnished with a fine train of artillery, and supported by a reserve under the command of Safdar Jang, the nephew of Sadat Khan of Oudh. With this force he advanced to Seronj, while Baji Rao crossed the Nerbadda at the head of an army said by himself to be 80,000 strong and probably superior in numbers to that of A'saf Jah.9 This disparity ought not to have deterred the Mogul general from 9 According to the present way of horse, will seldom be found to imply speaking among the Marattas, " lak more than 10,000 or 15,000 fighting fouj," which ought to mean 100,000 men. XII. 2 INVASION OF NADIR SHAH 691 an engagement, for the Marattas had never been formidable in pitched battles ; and with them, more even than with other enemies, it was of importance to assume a superiority at the commencement of a campaign. A'saf Jah, on the contrary, probably from reliance on his artillery, as well as the caution natural to his disposition and his advanced age, determined to await an attack in a favourable situation, close to the fort of Bopal. The strength of his position availed him nothing against such an enemy : the Marattas laid waste the country round him, intercepted his supplies, attacked every detachment that attempted to show itself beyond its lines, and completely broke off the communication between him and his reserve. The effects of these operations so straitened A'saf Jah that at the end of a month or six weeks he was obliged to attempt a retreat towards the north. He had probably lost many of his cattle, and, although he left his baggage at Bopal, he had still a heavy train to drag along with him. His movements, in such circumstances, were slow, and were further impeded by the Marattas : though deterred by his artillery from attempting a general attack, they harassed him with rockets, and hung on his rear with their cavalry, until, after some marches at the rate of three or four miles a day, he was obliged to submit to his fate, and enter into terms with the peshwa. By this convention, he engaged to cede all the country from the Nerbadda to the Chambal (including all Malwa), and to use his best endeavours to procure from the emperor a confirmation of the cession, and a payment of fifty lacs of rupees.10 A'saf Jah was then permitted to pursue his retreat to Delhi, and Baji Rao took possession of his conquests : but before he could receive the promised confirmation from the emperor, the progress of the transaction was arrested by one of those tremendous visitations which, for a time, render men insensible to all other considerations. The empire was again reduced to the same state of decay which had on former occasions invited the invasions of Tamerlane and Baber ; and a train of events in Persia led to a similar attack from that country. The family of Safavi, after having reigned for 200 years (about the usual duration of an Asiatic dynasty), fell into a state of corruption and decay, and was at last dethroned by the Afghans of Candahar. An account has already been given of the north-eastern portion of the Afghan nation ; n but the western tribes, who were the actors in the revolution in Persia, differ from those described, in more points than one. 10 £500,000. " Page 604. 692 THE WESTERN AFGHANS Their country is on the high table-land 12 which is supported on the east by the mountains of Soleiman, and separated by them from the plain on the Indus, On the north, a similar bulwark is formed by the range anciently called Caucasus, which overlooks the low level of the Oxus and of the Caspian Sea.13 The part of this table-land westward of Herat belongs to the Persians, and that eastward of the same city to the Afghans. There are fertile plains in this tract, and on the most extensive of them are the cities of Cabul, Ghazni, Candahar, and Herat ; 14 but the greater part consists of high downs, ill-suited to agriculture, and inhabited by pastoral tribes, who live in tents. They have the same government and the same character as the north-eastern Afghans, except that they are much less turbulent and contentious. In the pastoral tracts, the Afghans are almost unmixed ; but a great part of the population of the plains, including the cities, consists of Tajiks, who speak Persian, and are the same people that occupy similar situations in Persia and Transoxiana. The plains alone formed the conquests of the Persian and Indian kings. The Afghan tribes remained independent, though those near the possessions of the two great monarchies must no doubt have been influenced by their power.16 The greatest of the western tribes were the Ghiljeis, who inhabited the country round Candahar. and the Abdalis,16 whose original seat was in the mountains of Ghor, but who chiefly resided at the time now spoken of in the country round Herat. These tribes were always rivals, and often at war with each other. During the reign of Shah Hosein (the last of the Safavis) the Ghiljeis had given such offence to Persia as to provoke a formidable expedition against them. Gurgin Khan, the prince of Georgia (a convert from Christianity to the Mahometan religion), was sent to Candahar with an army of upwards of 20,000 men,17 a force his opponents were unable to withstand. But so galling was the yoke of the Persians, that the Ghiljeis, ere long, resolved to run all risks to throw it off. They were headed by Mir Weis, their hereditary chief, a man of talents and enterprise, and well aware of the feeble condition of the 12 The city of Cabul is 6,000 feet same level with the rest of the table- above the sea. (Burnes' Travels, land, and may be regarded as forming vol. i. p. 151.) a part of it. 13 See an essay by Mr. J. Baillie 15 The Abdalis agreed, about the Fraser, in Transactions of the Royal beginning of the seventeenth century, Geographical Society. to pay tribute to Persia on condition 14 Herat is just beyond the ridge of protection against the Uzbeks, which divides the waters that run to 16 Now called Durranis. the south from those that flow north- 17 Malcolm's Persia, vol. i. p. 601. ward to the Oxus ; but it is on the XII. 2 PERSIA AND THE AFGHANS 693 Persian empire. Conducting his operations with equal caution and boldness, Mir Weis surprised Candahar, expelled the Persians from the surrounding country, and formed his acquisi- tions, with the original possessions of his tribe, into an indepen- dent state. This achievement took place in 1708, and was followed by repeated attempts of the Persians to recover Candahar. in which they were at one time assisted by the Abdalis. In A.D. 1716 that tribe joined the Ghiljeis against them, and took Herat, and overran the greater part of Persian Khorasan. The two tribes, however, continued their mutual hostilities : the Persians profited by their disunion, and persevered in operations against both until 1720 ; when the chief of the Ghiljeis formed the bold resolution of carrying the war into Persia, and striking at once at the existence of the government which had oppressed him and his people. Mir Weis had died in A.D. 1715, and was at first succeeded by his brother ; but his son, whose name was Mahmud, before long seized on the government, and it was by him that the invasion of Persia was planned. The Persians had before this been defeated in a great battle with the Abdalis, who now threatened Meshhed, and whose progress was assisted by the incursions of the Uzbeks from the Oxus. The north-western part of Persia, also, had been invaded by the Lezgis, from Mount Caucasus, and the misconduct of the government itself made it weaker than those foreign attacks. Mahmud left Candahar with 25,000 men. He first marched to Kirman, and thence to Yezd, from which place he moved directly on Isfahan.18 He was opposed at Gulnabad, in the neighbourhood of that capital, by an army of very superior numbers, admirably equipped, and furnished with twenty-four pieces of cannon.19 But the spirit of the Persians was declined and their councils divided : the Afghans obtained a complete victory, and soon after began operations against the town. Isfahan had at this time attained to its highest pitch of magnificence and popula- tion.20 The last advantage became a calamity on the present 18 He had before been, for a time, Afghans had hardly a tent to cover in possession of Kirman, while in a them, their horses were lean from temporary alliance with Persia fatigue, the men were clothed in against the Abdalis. (Jones' His- tatters, and tanned by the rays of toire de Nadir Shah, introduction, the sun ; and, throughout their whole sect. 6.) camp, it was emphatically observed, 19 " The Persian soldiers looked nothing glittered ' but their swords fresh and showy, and all their equip- and lances.' ' (Malcolm's Persia, ments, from the tents in which they vol. i. p. 623.) reposed, and the dresses they wore, 20 Hanway, following Chardin, to the gold and enamelled furniture stntes the inhabitants at 600,000 of the sleek horses on which they souls (vol. ii. p. 164) ; and although rode, were rich and splendid. The the comparisons drawn by traveller^ 694 SIEGE OF ISFAHAN A.D. 1722, A.H. 1135 occasion ; for the Afghans, finding themselves unable to make an impression on the walls, had recourse to intercepting the supplies. It seemed a wild project to blockade so extensive a city with 20,000 men, to which amount the Afghans were now reduced ; yet so well did Mahmud supply the want of numbers by vigilance and activity, that the inhabitants before long began to suffer all the horrors of famine. The extent of this calamity, and the miseries endured by the besieged, are described by most writers as surpassing the greatest extremities ever known on such occasions.21 This disproportioned contest continued for no less than six months, a proof of the prostration of the courage of the Persians as well as of their powers of endurance. At length, after all their sallies had been repulsed, and all the attempts of troops from the provinces to force in convoys had failed, the necessity of submission became appar- ent. The king went forth with all his principal courtiers in deep mourning, surrendered himself to Mahmud, and with his own hand placed the diadem on the head of the conqueror (October, 1722). Mahmud's government was, at first, exercised with unex- pected leniency ; but his garrison in Cazvin having been surprised and massacred by the inhabitants of that city, he became alarmed for his own safety, put several of the Persian chiefs to death, and compelled all the armed part of the population to quit the city, on pain of a similar fate. Though the cruelties of the Ghiljeis have been extravagantly exaggerated,22 it is easy to imagine the insolence and barbarity between this city and those of India render so great a population incred- ible, yet it cannot be unreasonable to admit one-third of it, or 200,000 souls. 21 The poet Mohammed Ali Hazin, however (who was in Isfahan during the siege), contradicts these state- ments, and doubts if any man actu- ally died of hunger. (Belfour's Memoirs of Hazin, p. 122.) 22 An example may be found in the different accounts of the transaction just mentioned. Han way, who is by no means given to exaggeration, but who sometimes drew his information from popular rumour, or from worse authority, asserts that Mahmud extirpated the whole of the nobility, and hunted down their children, turning them out one by one, like beasts of chase ; and that he after- wards ordered the slaughter of every man, civil or military, who had received pay (in however humble a capacity) from the former govern- ment, commencing the massacre by the execution of 3,000 of the late king's guards. On the other hand, the author of the Nddirndmeh, whose statement may almost be considered as official, and who certainly had no wish to extenuate the atrocities of Mahmud, relates that " he formed a design to massacre the Persians ; and, on the same day on which the Afghans arrived from Cazvin, he caused one hundred and fourteen per- sons to be put to death, confounding the good with the bad, and the small with the great." (From Sir W. Jones' French translation, vol. v. of his Works, p. 12.) The same author relates that soon afterwards his evil genius led him to massacre all the princes of the blood, and that he put them to death to the number of thirty-nine. These statements are not very consistent with the idea of a massacre by thousands ; and it may XTT. 2 ASHREF AND TAHMASP 695 of a tribe of shepherds, suddenly raised to uncontrolled power over their former oppressors, and rendered deaf to compassion by a consciousness of numerical insignificance which could find no protection but from terror. Mahmud had not reigned two years when the agitation and anxiety he was exposed to, together with the effect of religious austerities and penances which he superstitiously imposed on himself, unsettled his reason. He became raving mad, and either died or was put to death, when he was succeeded by his nephew, Ashref (April, 1724). The new king was a man of talents and vigour. Before he had completed the conquest of Persia, he was assailed at once by the Russians and Turks, who had entered into a confederacy for dismembering the kingdom. The western provinces were to belong to the Porte, and the northern, as far as the Araxes, to Russia. Ashref turned his attention in the first instance to the Turks : he defeated them in repeated actions, and compelled them to acknowledge his title ; but he was not able to expel them from the conquests they had made. The Rus- sians, though led by the Czar Peter in person, were less danger- ous, from the strong country through which they had to advance : they had, however, made their way to Resht, on the south of the Caspian Sea, when their career was interrupted, and afterwards abandoned, in consequence of the death of the Czar. But Ashref's most formidable enemy was now rising nearer home. Tahmasp, the son of Hosein, had fled from Isfahan, and had remained under the protection of the tribe of Kajar, on the shore of the Caspian, with nothing of the royal dignity but the name. The first sign of a change of fortune was his being joined by Nadir Culi, the greatest warrior Persia has ever produced. This chief, who had first collected troops as a freebooter, now appeared as the deliverer of his country. He raised the courage of the Persians by his example and his success, called forth their religious zeal, and revived their national pride ; until, by degrees, he elevated them from the abject condition into which they had sunk to as high a pitch of military glory as they had ever before enjoyed. His first exploits were the capture of Meshhed and the re- covery of Khorasan from the Abdalis and Mohammed Khan be observed that, during all this palace, and only attended by five time, Shah Hosein was left alive, male and five female servants, and, so far from being cruelly treated, (Malcolm's History of Persia, vol. i. ho complained of his condition, be- p. 044.) cause he was confined to a small 696 NADIR SHAH A.D. 1729, A.H. 1142 of Sistan, who had seized on part of that province : he after- wards engaged the Ghiljeis under Ashref, who advanced to the northern frontier to attack him, drove them, in a succession of battles, to the southern limit of the kingdom, and so effec- tually wore down their army that they at last dispersed, and gave up the possession of their conquest, which they had retained for seven years. Most of their number were killed in the war, or perished in the desert on their return home. Ashref was murdered by a Beloch chief between Kirman and Candahar (January, 1729). Nadir next marched against the Turks, whose treaty with Ashref left them in possession of part of the Persian territories. He had already recovered Tabriz, when he received intelli- gence of a rising of the Abdalis, and was obliged to return to Khorasan. On his former successful expedition against that tribe, he had followed up his victory by measures of conciliation. By those means, and from their common enmity to the Ghiljeis, he gained a strong party among the Abdalis, and to its leader he confided the charge of Herat. The other party had now gained the ascendency, had overrun Khorasan, and laid siege to Mesh- hed, then held by Nadir's brother, Ibrahim, whom they had just before defeated in the field. They had even formed a connexion with the Ghiljeis ; but the new allies had no sooner met than their old enmities broke out, and they separated more estranged than ever. This war was more tedious than the former one, the siege of Herat alone occupying ten months ; but the Abdalis were this time completely subdued. Nadir again took measures to attach them to him after his victory, and as he not long after embraced the Sunni religion they became the most devoted of his followers. The length of time occupied in these operations produced a crisis in the affairs of Persia. While the sole function of the government was the employment of the army, the king natu- rally remained a mere pageant in the hands of the general ; but when restored to the capital, and acknowledged throughout the kingdom, he became a person of more importance, and during the absence of Nadir he took upon him the exercise of all the royal prerogatives. Nadir was not at all disposed to acquiesce in such a transfer of authority, and, as soon as he had settled the affairs of Khorasan, he repaired to Isfahan, and, taking advantage of the odium created by an unfavourable treaty with the Turks, he deposed Tahmasp, and raised his infant son to the nominal sovereignty. This may almost be considered as the avowed commencement of his own reign ; but it was not till XII. 2 ASSAULT OF CANDAHAR 697 he had gained many victories over the Turks, recovered the whole of the territory occupied by that nation and the Russians, and made peace with both powers, that he formally assumed the title of King of Persia. Before he was invested with that dignity, he repaired with his army to the plain of Moghan, to which place he summoned the civil and military officers, the governors of districts, the magistrates, and all the other men of distinction in the empire, to the number of 100,000 persons. By the unanimous voice of this assembly he was offered the crown, which, after some affected reluctance, he accepted, on condition that the Shia religion should be abolished, and that of the Sunnis established throughout Persia (1736).2Z By this change of religion Nadir hoped to eradicate all attachment to the Safavis, whose claims were founded on their being the champions of the Shia sect ; but, as the Persians remained at heart as much devoted as ever to the national faith, the real effect of the measure was to produce an alienation between the new king and his subjects, and led to consequences equally calamitous to both. Though little aware of this result at the time, Nadir felt that a throne established by a succession of victories must be maintained by similar achievements : he therefore determined to gratify the pride of his countrymen by retaliating on their former conquerors, the Ghiljeis, and restoring Candahar to the Persian monarchy. He made great preparations for this expedition, and set out on it at the head of an army estimated, by some authorities, at 80,000 men.24 He had, on this occasion, the hearty co- operation of the Abdalis, while the Ghiljeis were dispirited and disunited. But they had not so far lost their martial character as to yield without a struggle ; and it was not till after a close blockade of nearly a twelvemonth that Nadir ventured on an assault of Candahar : even then he was more than once repulsed before the city fell into his hands (March, 1738). While the siege was pending, he settled the greater part of the surrounding country ; and, at the same time, his son, Reza Culi Mirza, who had marched from Meshhed against the Uzbeks, not only conquered the province of Balkh, but gained a victory on the Oxus, over the king of Bokhara in person. Nadir's conduct towards the Ghiljeis was moderate and 23 Nddirndmeh. Jones' Works, says that this army of 80,000 men vol. v. p. 237. Hanway represents was closely followed by another of Nadir as only stipulating for a tolera- 30,000 ; but these great numbers do tion of the Sunni religion, and sub- not seem probable to the west of the (tcquently abolishing that of the Shias. Indus, where the vast armies common 24 Malcolm's History of Persia, vol. in India arc very seldom soon. ii. p. 08. Han way (vol. ii. p. 355) 698 NADIR INVADES HINDOSTAN politic : he took no vindictive measures in retaliation for the invasion of Persia ; he treated the Ghiljeis like his other subjects, and enrolled many of them in his army ; but he removed a portion of the tribe from their lands round Candahar> which he made over to the Abdalis, and particularly to that part of them who had been settled about Nishapur, in the west of Khorasan.25 The acquisition of the Ghiljei territory brought Nadir to the frontier of the Mogul empire. The extreme weakness of that monarchy could not escape his observation ; and the prospect of repairing the exhausted resources of Persia from so rich a mine was scarcely a greater temptation than the means of employing the warlike tribes now subject to his authority, and combining their rival energies in an undertaking so accept- able to them all. While engaged in the siege of Candahar, he had applied to the court of Delhi for the seizure or expulsion of some Afghans who had fled into the country near Ghazni. The Indian government was probably unable to comply with this demand, and they seem also to have had some hesitation in acknow- ledging Nadir Shah's title : for these reasons they allowed a long period to elapse without returning an answer. Nadir Shah remonstrated in strong terms against this neglect of his application, and without further delay advanced on Ghazni and Cabul. Another messenger, whom he now despatched to Delhi, having been cut off by the Afghans in the mountains, Nadir thought himself fully justified in an invasion of India. Cabul had fallen into his hands with little difficulty ; but he remained in that neighbourhood for some months, for the purpose of settling the country, and did not commence his march to the eastward till near the approach of winter. The court of Delhi had been too much absorbed in the dread of the Marattas and its own internal factions to pay much atten- tion to the proceedings of Nadir. As long as he was engaged in 25 Jones' Nddirndmeh, Works, vol. v. p. 275. The account of the Ghiljei conquest is almost entirely drawn from Hanway and the Nddirndmeh ; that of Nadir Shah's proceedings chiefly from the latter work. Han- way is himself a man of judgment and veracity, but his facts seem sometimes to rest on the authority of the Derniere Revolution de la Perse, a sort of version, we are told, of the notes of Father Krusinski, a Polish Jesuit, which, though founded on good information, is too fanciful and highly coloured to be at all depended upon. It bears a considerable sem- blance, in these respects, to Catrou, formerly mentioned (in the reign of Shah Jehan). Krusinski's own work has since been published in Germany, but I have never seen it. The Nddir- ndmeh is a Persian history, by Mirza Mehdi, who is stated by Sir J. Malcolm to have been confidential secretary of Nadir Shah. Though a minister and a panegyrist, he is a much more faithful historian than Abul Fazl ; and his style, in Sir W. Jones' French translation at least, is much clearer and more compact. XII. 2 ROUT OF THE INDIAN ARMY 699 a contest within the old territory of Persia, they looked on with total indifference ; and even when he had invaded their own territory and taken Cabul, they still expected that the mountain tribes between that city and Peshawar would check his further advance. But the money which, in regular time, was paid for the purpose of keeping up an influence with those tribes, had for some years been withheld ; and they had no inclination, if they had possessed the power, of interfering in favour of the Moguls. It was therefore with dismay proportioned to their former supineness that the Moguls learned that Nadir had passed the mountains, had defeated a small force under one of their governors, had thrown a bridge of boats over the Indus, and was advancing into the Panjab. Notwithstanding a faint show of opposition, attempted by the governor of Lahor, Nadir met with no real obstruction till he approached the Jumna, within one hundred miles of Delhi, when he found himself in the neighbourhood of the Indian army. Mohammed Shah had at length exerted himself to collect his force : he had been joined by A'saf Jah, and had moved to Carnal, where he occupied a fortified camp. Sadat Khan, the viceroy of Oudh, arrived in the neighbourhood of this camp about the same time with Nadir Shah ; and an attempt to intercept him by the Persians brought on a partial action, which ended in a general engagement. The Indians would in no circumstances have been a match for the hardy and experienced soldiers opposed to them ; and they were now brought up in confusion and without concert, A'saf Jah having, from some real or pretended misconception, taken no part in the action.26 The result was the rout of the Indian army ; Khani Douran, the commander-in-chief, was killed, and Sadat Khan taken prisoner ; and Mohammed had no resource but to send A'saf Jah to offer his submission, and repair himself, with a few attendants, to the Persian camp. Nadir Shah received him with great courtesy, and allowed him to return on the same day to his own encampment. He did not on that account desist from pressing his advantages ; for he soon after obliged Mohammed to join his army, and in this manner the two kings marched on towards Delhi. Different accounts are given of the negotiations carried on during the interval, which were embarrassed by the rivalry of A'saf Jah and Sadat Khan ; 26 The journal translated by Fraser writer in his camp, states his whole (Life of Nadir, p. 154) makes Nadir's force, when at Peshawar, at 64,500 whole army, with the followers, who fighting men and 4,000 followers, were all armed, amount to 100,000 ; (Ibid. pp. 140, 141.) but an enumeration, by a news- 700 MASSACRE A.D. 1739, A.H. 1151 but suoh intrigues could have no result of consequence, for Nadir had the power completely in his own hands, and required no prompter to tell him how to exercise it. The army reached Delhi in the beginning of March, when both kings took up their residence in the royal palace. Nadir distributed a portion of his troops throughout the town ; he ordered strict discipline to be observed, and placed safeguards in different places for the protection of the inhabitants. These precautions did not succeed in conciliating the Indians, who looked on the ferocity of these strangers with terror, and on their intrusion with disgust.27 On the second day after the occupation of the city a report was spread that Nadir Shah was dead, on which the hatred of the Indians broke forth without restraint. They fell on all the Persians within their reach ; and, from the manner in which those troops were scattered throughout the city, a considerable number fell sacrifices to the popular fury. The Indian nobles made no effort to protect the Persians ; some even gave those up to be murdered who had been furnished for the protection of their palaces.28 Nadir Shah at first applied his whole attention to sup- pressing the tumult, and though provoked to find that it continued during the whole night, and seemed rather to increase than diminish, he mounted his horse at daybreak, in the hope that his presence would restore quiet. The first objects that met his eyes in the streets were the dead bodies of his country- men ; and he was soon assailed with stones, arrows, and fire- arms from the houses. At last one of his chiefs was killed at his side, by a shot aimed at himself ; when he gave way to his passion, and ordered a general massacre of the Indians.29 The slaughter raged from sunrise till the day was far advanced, and was attended with all the horrors that could be inspired by rapine, lust, and thirst of vengeance. The city was set on fire in several places, and was soon involved in one scene of destruction, blood, and terror. At length Nadir, satiated with carnage, allowed himself to be prevailed on by the intercession of the emperor or his prime minister, and gave an order to stop the massacre ; and, to the infinite credit of his discipline, it was immediately obeyed.30 27 Fraser. 30 The authentic accounts differ 28 Hazin states the number cut off about the suspension of the massacre, at 700 (p. 281 of Mr. Belfour's edition It is said that Nadir, during the whole of the original ; in the translation, period, sat in gloomy silence in the p. 299, it is 7,000, but doubtless from little mosque of Rokn ud doula, in an error of the press). Scott (vol. ii. the Great Bazar, where Mohammed p. 207) makes it 1,000. Shah and his nobles at length took 29 Fraser, p. 183, courage to present themselves. They XII. 2 A REIGN OF TERROR 701 But the sufferings of the people of Delhi did not cease with this tragedy. Nadir's sole object in invading India was to enrich himself by its plunder, and he began to discuss the contributions from the moment of his victory. His first adviser was Sadat Khan : that nobleman died soon after reaching Delhi, when the work of exaction was committed to Sirbuland Khan and a Persian named Tahmasp Khan ; and their proceedings, which were sufficiently rigorous of themselves, were urged on by the violence and impatience of Nadir. They first took possession of the imperial treasures and jewels, including the celebrated peacock throne. They after- wards seized on the whole effects of some great nobles, and compelled the rest to sacrifice the largest part of their property as a ransom for the remainder. They then fell on the inferior officers, and on the common inhabitants : guards were stationed to prevent people leaving the city, and every man was con- strained to disclose the amount of his fortune, and to pay accordingly. Every species of cruelty was employed to extort these contributions. Even men of consequence were beaten to draw forth confessions. Great numbers of the inhabitants died of the usage they received, and many destroyed themselves to avoid the disgrace and torture. " Sleep and rest forsook the city. In every chamber and house was heard the cry of affliction. It was before a general massacre, but now the murder of individuals." 31 Contributions were also levied on the governors of pro- vinces ; until Nadir was at length convinced that he had exhausted all the sources from which wealth was to be obtained, and prepared himself to return to his own dominions. He made a treaty with Mohammed Shah, by which all the country stood before him with downcast eyes, calculation. Fraser makes the until Nadir commanded them to amount from 120,000 to 150,000 ; speak ; when Mohammed burst into but the author of the Nddirndmeh tears, and entreated Nadir to spare seems nearest the truth, and probably his subjects. I wish there was better below it, in stating that the slaughter authority than Dow for this not continued for almost the whole day, improbable anecdote. The best and that about 30,000 persons were account of the massacre is that of put to the sword during the course Hazin, who was an eye-witness, and of it. Scott (vol. ii. p. 207) restricts whose narrative is copied, almost the number to 8,000, but he does not verbatim, by the author of the Seir give his authority ; and it is incred- ul Mutdkherin ; and the journal of a ible that so small a result should be native Indian who was secretary to produced by many hours of unre- Sirbuland, given by Fraser in his sisted butchery by a detachment of History of Nadir Shah. The sue- 20,000 men, which was the body ceeding transactions (in some of employed on it. which the writer must have been an 31 The words between inverted actor) are minutely recorded in the commas are drawn from Scott (vol. same journal. Hazin informs us the ii. p. 210) ; but the substance is the massacre lasted for half the day, and same in all the narratives, that the numbers slain were beyond 702 NADIR DEPARTS FROM DELHI west of the Indus was ceded to him. He married his son to a princess of the house of Timur, and at last he seated Mohammed on the throne, invested him with his own hand with the ornaments of the diadem, and enjoined all the Indian nobles to obey him implicitly, on pain of his future indignation and vengeance. At length he marched from Delhi, after a residence of fifty-eight days, carrying with him a treasure in money, amounting, by the lowest computation, to eight or nine millions sterling, besides several millions in gold and silver plate, valuable furniture, and rich stuffs of every description ; and this does not include the jewels, which were inestimable. He also carried off many elephants, horses, and camels, and led away the most skilful workmen and artisans, to the number of some hundreds. 32 CHAPTER III TO THE DEATH OF MOHAMMED SHAH A.D. 1739, A.H. 1151— A.D. 1748, A.H. 1161 Deplorable condition of the capital and of the empire — Internal dissensions — Proceedings of the Marattas — Baji Rao resumes offensive operations ---Attacks A'saf Jah's possessions, A.D. 1740, A.H. 1153 — Is repulsed by A'saf's son, Nasir Jang — Perplexed affairs of Baji Rao — His death, April 28, A.D. 1740 ; Safar, A.H. 1153 — His sons — Wars in the Concan before Baji Rao's death — With A'ngria — With the Abyssinians of Jinjera — With the Portuguese — Balaji Rao — Domestic enemies of Baji Rao — The pirti nidhi — Raghuji Bosla — Damaji Geikwar — Their intrigues to prevent Balaji succeeding to the office of peshwa — Success 32 The various sums of money enu- merated by Scott amount to between £8,000,000 and £9,000,000. The Nddirndmeh says fifteen crores of rupees ; and Fraser, thirty crores of rupees ; and Hanway, thirty crores, which he estimates at £37,500,000 ; and all these sums are the money alone. The imperial treasures must have been greatly encroached on since the reign of Shah Jehan : the peacock throne, which Tavernier estimated at £6,000,000, is only valued, in the Nddirndmeh, at £2,000,000, and in Scott only at £1,000,000. stories which were current time, about the causes of this inva- sion, are preserved in Dow's Hindo- stan. According to those narratives, Nadir was invited to India by A'saf Jah and Sadat Khan, and the loss of the battle of Carnal was concerted between those chiefs. Nadir Shall rewarded their treachery by spitting on their beards, and ordering them to be driven from his court. The two nobles, thus disgraced, agreed to end their shame by a voluntary death : but as they were rivals, and each suspected the sincerity of the other, they sent spies to discover whether the resolution was carried into effect. A'saf Jah, the more crafty of the two, took an innocent draught, and soon after pretended to fall down dead ; on which Sadat, deceived by the artifice, swallowed real poison, and forthwith expired. These fictions, like many others which are believed in times of agitation, disappear when full light is thrown on the period. XII. 3 AN EMPIRE DESOLATE 703 of Balaji, August, A.D. 1740 — Balaji marches into Malvva- Revives his father's demands on the court of Delhi — Invasion of Bengal by Raghuji Bosla — The emperor purchases the aid of Balaji by the formal cession of Malwa — Balaji dotVats and drives out Raghuji, A.D. 1743, A.H. 1150 — Fresh combinations against the peshwa — He buys over Raghuji by liberal cessions. A.D. 1744, A.H. 1157 — Raghuji again invades Bengal — His general murdered by the viceroy, A.D. 1745, A.H. 1158 — He ultimately obtains the chout of Bengal and a cession of Cattac — Affairs of A'saf Jah — Revolt of Nasir Jang — A'saf Jah returns to the Deckan — His death, June, A.D. 1748 ; Jamada's Sani, A.H. 1161 — Death of Saho Raja, about December, A.D. 1749 — Intrigues and contests for the succession — Boldness and address of Balaji — Alleged abdication of Saho in favour of Balaji — Balaji takes possession of the government, A.D. 1750 — Marches against Salabat Jang, the son of A'saf Jah — He is recalled by the insurrection of Tara Bai and Damaji Geikwar — Balaji seizes Damaji by treachery — Salabat Jang advances on Puna — Superiority of the invaders, M. Bussy, November, A.D. 1751 — Balaji is saved by a mutiny of Salabat's army, A.D. 1752 — An armistice concluded — Transactions at Delhi resumed — Rise of the Rohillas — The emperor marches against them, A.D. 1745, A.H. 1156 — Fresh invasions from the side of Persia — Revolutions in that country — Tyranny of Nadir Shah — His fears of the Shias — He puts out the eyes of his son — His intolerable cruelties — His favour to the Afghans — He is assassinated by the Persians, June, A.D. 1747 ; Jamada's Sani, A.H. 1160 — Retreat of the Afghans — Ahmed Khan Abdali — Ahmed crowned king at Candahar, October, 1747 — Changes the name of Abdalis to Dur- ranis — His skilful management of his unruly subjects — His views on India — He occupies the Panjab — He is repulsed by an Indian army under Prince Ahmed, the heir-apparent, March, A.D. 1748; Rabi ul awwal 26, A.H. 1161 — Death of Mohammed Shah, April, A.D. 1748; Rabi us Sani 26, A.H. 1161. FOR some time after Nadir Shah's departure, the inhabitants of Delhi remained in a sort of stupor. They had not yet recovered the terror of the past, and the destruction of their fortunes : many of their houses were in ruins ; much of the city was entirely deserted, and the whole infected by the stench of the bodies which still lay unburied in the streets. It was not till long after Nadir was gone that the court awoke as if from a lethargy.1 The view of the empire which presented itself was as full of ruin and desolation as the capital. The army was destroyed, the treasury emptied, the finances all but annihilated ; the Marattas still threatened on the south, and the only provinces which had not been laid waste by their ravages had now been destroyed by Nadir's army. To these unavoidable evils the court added internal dis- sension. The prevailing faction was formed of a few great families, who, from their Turk descent, were called the Turani nobles : the heads were the vazir Kamar ud din Khan and A'saf Jah, and they were connected by intermarriages as well as by party. To them were opposed all those desirous of supplanting them, or jealous of their ascendency, among which number the emperor himself was thought to be included. 1 Fraser. [Cf. supra, pp. 407, 408.— ED.] 704 DEATH OF BAJI RAO A.D. 1740, A.H. 1153 This divided government would have fallen an easy prey to the Marattas, had not circumstances procured it a respite from the encroachments of those invaders. If the power of Nadir Shah had been underrated by the Moguls, it was probably quite unknown to Baji Rao : and he seems to have been struck with amazement at the appearance of this terrible antagonist, in a field which he expected to have traversed unopposed. His first thought was to suspend all his plans of aggrandizement, and form a general league for the defence of India. " Our domestic quarrels (he writes) are now insignificant ; there is but one enemy in Hindostan." ..." Hindus and Mussul- mans, the whole power of the Deckan, must assemble." 2 When he was relieved from the fear of Nadir Shah, he returned to his old designs. He had a ground of quarrel with the Moguls, as the agreement made by A'saf Jah had not been formally ratified by the emperor, and the obvious course for him was to have enforced his claim at Delhi : but he was led to choose the Deckan for the theatre of the war, that he might be at hand to watch the proceedings of the Bosla of Berar and the Geikwar of Guzerat, who were plotting to overthrow his power under pretence of emancipating the raja. He disposed of the Bosla by engaging him in a remote expedition into the Carnatic, and then attacked Nasir Jang, the second son of A'saf Jah, who had been left in charge of his father's government, and was encamped with 10,000 men at Burhanpur. Baji Rao at first surrounded him, and probably expected the same success as he had lately met with against A'saf Jah himself ; but the young viceroy showed a vigour unusual to the Moguls of that day ; and, being joined by a reinforcement, he attacked the Marattas, broke through their army, and had advanced to Ahmednagar, on his way to Puna, when Baji Rao thought it prudent to come to an accommodation with him. The peshwa seems now to have been reduced to perplexity by the variety of embarrassments which he had brought on himself,3 and was returning to Hindostan (for what purpose is not known), when his plans were arrested by his death, which took place on the Nerbadda. He left three sons : Balaji Rao, who succeeded him as peshwa ; Ragonat Rao, or Ragoba, who was at one time much connected with the English, and was the father of the last peshwa ; and Shamshir Bahadur, to whom (though an illegiti- 2 Grant Duff, vol. i. p. 547. near the raja are my enemies, and 3 He writes thus to his spiritual should I go at this time to Sattara, guide : ' I am involved in difficulty, they will put their feet on my breast, in debt, and in disappointments, and I should be thankful if I could meet like a man ready to swallow poison : death." (Grant Duff, vol. i. p. 559.) XII. 3 A'NGRIA 705 mate son by a Mahometan woman, and brought up in his mother's religion) he left all his possessions and pretensions in Bundelcand. During the last years of Baji Rao's administration he had been engaged in wars in the Concan. They were chiefly conducted by his brother, Chimnaji ; and, from the position of his enemies in forts and islands, protected on one side by the sea and on the other by hills and jungles, required extra- ordinary exertions, and were attended with imperfect success. These enemies were A'ngria of Colaba, the Abyssinians of Jinjera, and the Portuguese. A'ngria, after his acknowledg- ment of Saho Raja, remained in nominal dependence on the Maratta state, but employed his own resources with little or no control. His piracies (which he called " levying chout on the sea ") rendered him formidable to all his neighbours. The English made repeated attacks on him, with considerable naval forces, and on one occasion with the co-operation of the Portuguese (A.D. 1719), yet failed in all their attempts. The Dutch also sent a strong force against him at a later period (A.D. 1724), with equal ill-success. The peshwa interposed in a dispute between two brothers of the family, and received from one of the competitors two forts which they possessed in the Ghats (about A.D. 1734). The contest, however, continued ; and the peshwa, though latterly assisted by an English fleet, was unable to bring it to a conclusion till the time of Baji Rao's death.4 The war with the Abyssinians was less successful. Those Mussulmans were as powerful at sea as A'ngria. They were, besides, in the practice of ravaging the Maratta territories on the mainland, and had even seized on some of their forts. The utmost result of the peshwa's efforts was to procure forbearance from those aggressions (A.D. 1736). 5 The war with the Portuguese originated in the contest between the A'ngrias (A.D. 1737). It ended in the loss of the Portuguese possessions in Salsette, Bassein, and the neigh- bouring parts of the -Concan (A.D. 1739). The difficulties encountered by the Marattas in this conquest may be estimated from their loss at the siege of Bassein, which they themselves admit to have amounted to 5,000 killed and wounded.6 The storms which were gathering round Baji Rao at his death might have been expected to overwhelm his successor ; but Balaji, however inferior to his father in other respects, was at least his equal in address ; and the skill with which he availed 4 Grant Duff. [The two strongest bined English and Mahratta force in forts of the A'ngrias, Severndrug and 1755 and 1756. — ED.] Viziadrug, wore taken by the com- 5 Grant Duff, 6 Ibid. Z Z 706 RAGHUJI BOSLA himself of some favourable circumstances effected his deliver- ance from the difficulties with which he was surrounded. The dangers felt by Baji Rao, besides his ill-success against Nasir Jang, were caused by his financial embarrassments and his domestic enemies. The chief of his enemies were the pirti nidhi, Raghuji Bosla. and Damaji Geikwar. The first was the old rival of his family,7 and, though much depressed, was still formidable. Parsoji, the founder of the Boslas, afterwards rajas of Berar, was a private horseman from the neighbourhood of Sattara : though he bore the same name with the house of Sivaji, there is no proof that he was of the same descent. He, however, rose to distinction ; and, being one of the first to join Raja Saho when he returned from Delhi, was farther advanced by that prince, and invested with a right to collect all the Maratta dues in Berar and the forest country farther to the east. Raghuji, his cousin, who was a favourite of Saho, and married to his sister-in-law, was raised to his station on his death, in preference to his son, who ought to have succeeded him. Raghuji had given offence to the peshwa by levying contributions to the north of the Nerbadda, in the tract which had been appropriated to the latter chief : he was likewise an object of jealousy, from the apprehension that he might prevail on Saho to keep up the name of Bosla by adopting him. The Geikwar had been the guardian, and was now the representative, of Dabari, the chief of Guzerat, another of the peshwa' s rivals, whose own ignorance and debauchery incapacitated him for business. The last of Baji Rao's difficulties arose from the enormous debts incurred in his military expeditions, which, from the exhausted state of the country and some changes in the mode of war, no longer paid their own expenses. His principal creditor, Baramatiker, was himself a man of some consequence, and of immense wealth ; his unsatisfied demand had led to quarrels with Baji Rao, and Raghuji secured his co-operation by promising to support his claims, and even to procure for him an indemnity, in the succession to the high office lately held by his debtor. Raghuji, as has been mentioned, was on an expedition to the Carnatic, and was besieging Trichinopoly, when he heard of the peshwa' s death ; and, although he instantly hastened to Sattara to oppose Balaji's succession, he was obliged to leave the greater part of his army behind him ; his views, also, were as inconsistent with those of the pirti nidhi as with the peshwa' s, and he had therefore no concert with that minister. Damaji Geikwar wasjnotjready to take the field ; J See p. 684. XII. 3 BALAJI IN MALWA 707 and Nasir Jang, who soon after rebelled against his father, was too much occupied to profit by the Maratta dissensions. On the other hand, Balaji was already near the capital : he had been joined by a portion of his father's troops, under his uncle, Chimnaji, and the rest were disposable and at hand : the raja was surrounded by his creatures, and, above all, he was the head of the Bramin party ; and as all the business, even of his enemies, was in the hands of that class, he had a prodigious advantage in every contest. He was accordingly appointed peshwa, in spite of all opposition, and Raghuji returned to his army at Trichinopoly, whither Baramatiker, in this change of circumstances, was glad to accompany him. Balaji, how- ever, did not fail to apply himself to the liquidation of his debts, a task for which he was much better fitted than his father. After more than a year spent on internal arrangements, Balaji turned his attention to his claims on Hindostan, which had been encroached on by Raghuji Bosla. For this purpose he procured from the raja a distinct assignment of all the Maratta rights and all tribute that might be collected to the north of the Nerbadda, excepting in the province of Guzerat. To give reality to this grant, Balaji marched towards the point from which he could most easily check the interference of Raghuji : he crossed the Nerbadda, took Garra and Mandala, and was about to move on Allahabad when he was recalled by an invasion of Malwa by Damaji Geikwar from Guzerat. Damaji, who perhaps had no object but to make a diversion in favour of Raghuji, retired on his approach ; and Balaji took advantage of his position in Malwa to press the court of Delhi for a confirmation of the grant of that province, extorted by Baji Rao from A'saf Jah, which had remained in suspense during the Persian invasion. His views on this subject were facilitated by those very encroachments of Raghuji which it had been so much his desire to check. This chief had, on his return from the Carnatic, sent a force into Bengal, under his Bramin minister, Bhasker Pandit, which had ravaged the province, threatening the viceroy himself when his troops were dispersed, and retiring into the southern arid western hills when he was in force. All Verdi Khan,8 then viceroy, maintained a good resistance to Bhasker Pandit ; but he was alarmed at the advance of Raghuji in person, and besought the emperor to afford him immediate assistance, if he did not wish to lose the province. The emperor, conscious of his own weakness, ordered Safder Jang (who had succeeded his father, Sadat Khan, as viceroy of Oudh) to 8 Called also Mohabat Jang. 708 RAGHUJI ROUTED A.D. 1744, A.H. 1157 undertake the task ; at the same time he took the more effectual measure of calling in the aid of Balaji Rao, and purchased it by a confirmation of the grant of Malwa.9 Nothing could be more agreeable to Balaji Rao than this invitation. He immediately marched by Allahabad and Behar, and reached Murshidabad, the capital of the province, in time to protect it from Raghuji, who was approaching from the south-west. He here received from All Verdi the payment of an assignment granted to him by the court of Delhi on the arrears of the revenue of Bengal ; and being now zealous in the cause which he was so well paid for espousing, he marched against the invader. Raghuji retired before him, but was overtaken, and suffered a rout, and the loss of his baggage, before he was completely driven out of the province. After this success Balaji returned to Malwa, whence, after some time, he set out for Sattara. His presence was at no time more required ; for Raghuji, on his return from Bengal, determined to profit by Balaji's absence, and was on full march for the capital. Damaji Geikwar was also approaching from Guzerat, and the agent of the pirti nidhi (who was himself disabled by sickness) was in active preparation to assist him. Balaji must have formed a high estimate of the power of this combination, since he thought the dissolution of it worth the sacrifice of those exclusive rights beyond the Nerbadda for which he had so successfully contended. He conceded to Raghuji the right of levying tribute in all Bengal and Behar, if not also in Allaha- bad and Oudh. By this adjustment the other confederates were left without support ; but it suited the peshwa's projects to temporise with them, and the storm which threatened so much disturbance was thus quietly dispelled. The con- cession to Raghuji seems to have been dictated by sound policy : his views were henceforth turned towards the east, and his designs on the succession to the raja appear to have been laid aside. Bengal, indeed, soon afforded him sufficient employment. Bhasker Pandit was again sent into that province ; his operations in the field were successful ; but he suffered himself to be inveigled into an interview with Ali Verdi, by whom he was treacherously murdered, and at the same moment his 9 Captain Grant Duff states that Jamada'l awwal, in T the twenty- the grant was not confirmed until fourth year of Mohammed Shah's after the expulsion of Raghuji, in reign, which would be about May, A.D. 1743, and it may not have been 1742. Balaji, on his part, was to formally delivered over till then ; furnish 4,000 horse at his own cost, but his own abstract of the grant and 8,000 more to be paid by the (vol. ii. p. 15) bears the date of emperor. XII. 3 DEATH OF A'SAF JAH 709 army was attacked and dispersed. Bengal was thus, for a time, delivered from the Marattas. But All Verdi's chief support in his wars had been a body of Afghans, under a cele- brated leader named Mustafa Khan ; and with them he now quarrelled. A serious revolt ensued, of which Raghuji took advantage ; and although the revolt was at last subdued, and many other vicissitudes befell the contending parties, yet Raghuji was so far successful in the end, that, in A.D. 1751, not long before the death of AH Verdi, he obtained a cession of Cattac (the southern division of Orissa), and an engagement for the payment of twelve lacs of rupees (£120,000) as the chout or tribute of Bengal. During all this time the Marattas had been entirely free from disturbances on the side of the Moguls in the Deckan. A'saf Jah had been recalled from Delhi, in A.D. 1741, by a revolt of his second son, Nasir Jang ; and, when it was sup- pressed, he was involved in disturbances in the subordinate government of Arcot,* which occupied him till he died, at the age of seventy-seven. His death led to contentions among his sons, which, being unconnected with events in the other parts of India, and chiefly influenced by the French and English, will be best understood when we come to relate the proceedings of those nations.10 The death of A'saf Jah was followed, before the end of the succeeding year, by that of Saho Raja ; and the latter event produced the crisis for which the peshwa had all along been preparing, and which was to decide the future fortune of himself and his descendants. As Saho was without issue it was necessary by the Hindu custom that he should adopt a successor ; and the same custom restricted the choice to his kindred. The nearest kinsman, in this case, was the raja of Colapur ; and his claim, in itself so difficult to set aside, was supported by a close alliance with Sawatri Bai, the wife of Saho, and the rival and enemy of the peshwa. Though the government was entirely in the hands of Balaji, the personal conduct of the raja was almost as much under the control of his wife, the imbecility into which he had of late years fallen rendering him incompetent to judge for himself. There was, therefore, a continual danger of her prevailing on Saho to adopt the raja of Colapur ; and it was impossible for Balaji to anticipate her, as he was unprovided with a claimant, and could not yet venture to seize on the government in his own name. In this perplexity he had * [Soo Mill's Hist., vol. iii. ch. 2.— ED.] 10 [Ibid., vol. iii.— ED. | 710 AN ALLEGED ABDICATION recourse to a stratagem well worthy of the subtlety of his class. Tara Bai, the widow of Raja Ram, who had so long maintained the claims of her son, Sivaji II., in opposition to Saho, was still alive at an advanced age ; and although her enmity to the peshwa was not abated, she was tempted, by the prospect of recovering her influence, to enter into the designs of that minister. In furtherance of their project, a secret intimation was conveyed to Saho, that a posthumous son of Sivaji II. had been concealed by Tara Bai, and was still alive. Saho made known his supposed discovery to the peshwa, and it was determined to question Tara Bai. It may be imagined that she readily admitted the fact ; but the old story was treated with ridicule by the other party, and Sawatri Bai redoubled her vigilance to prevent the raja from acting on the delusion produced by it. She was safe from an adoption which could not take place without a certain degree of publicity ; but she was circumvented by a stroke of audacity for which she could not have been prepared : it was no less than an assertion that the raja had signed an instrument, transferring all the powers of his government to the peshwa, on condition of his maintaining the royal title and dignity in the house of Sivaji through the grandson of Tara Bai. 'it is said that this important deed was executed at a secret interview between Balaji and the raja : but whether the signature (if genuine) was obtained by persuasion or fraud, when the deed was pro- duced, and how far its authenticity was admitted at the time, are left in an obscurity which is rendered more mysterious by the conduct of Balaji and Tara Bai in circumstances which will appear in the sequel.11 At the moment of the death of Saho, the peshwa called in a fresh force to Sattara, and seized on the head of the opposite party. . He then proclaimed the grandson of Tara Bai by the title of Ram Raja, and took measures to promote the influence of that princess, with the intention of turning it to his own use. After these preparations, he summoned the great chiefs to court, that the new arrangements might be confirmed by their recognition. Damaji Geikwar did not attend, but Raghuji Bosla appeared as an ally, and, after some affected inquiries, acknowledged the succession of Ram Raja. The former concessions to him were confirmed, and he received, in addition, a portion of the lands of the pirti nidhi, which were now confiscated. Various other chiefs received advantages 11 I possess no facts relating to this that^author, both with regard to the revolution but what are given by reality; of Ram Raja's descent and Grant Duff ; but I have been led to the bona fide consent of Saho to the conclusions somewhat different from transfer of the sovereignty. XII. 3 TAR A BAI ACTIVE 711 calculated to bind them to the new government ; and, among others, Sindia and Holcar received assignments of the whole revenue of Malwa, except a small portion granted to other chiefs.12 The establishment of the peshwa's authority was not effected without some attempts at insurrection, and was endangered by a temporary quarrel between him and his cousin, Sedasheo Bhao ; but it was at length so fully completed as to leave Balaji at liberty to engage in the affairs of foreign states. He then undertook the cause of Ghazi ud din Khan, the eldest son of A'saf Jah, against Salabat Jang, his third son, who was in possession of the family inheritance, after the death of two other competitors, cut off during a civil war. He had before transferred his residence to Puna, and he now left Ram Raja at Sattara in perfect freedom, but under the control of Tara Bai. He then marched into Nizam's territory, and was already in the neighbourhood of Salabat's army when he received intelligence which obliged him to relinquish his undertaking, and to return by forced marches to his own country. He had no sooner set out on his campaign than Tara Bai, whose ambition and violence were not tamed by age, secretly invited Damaji Geikwar to march with his army to Sattara : at the same time she proposed to Ram Raja to assert his sovereignty ; and, rinding the raja averse to her design, she took advantage of the approach of Damaji to seize his person, and confine him in a dungeon. She had it still in her power to have made use of her prisoner's name : instead of that she proclaimed him an impostor, and carried on the government without any ostensible authority but her own. Notwithstanding the rapidity of the peshwa's return, his officers had already more than once encountered the Geikwar ; and the advantage, after some alternations of success, was on their side, when Balaji arrived. But that wily Bramin trusted to other arms than the sword ; he procured a meeting with Damaji, at which he treacherously made him prisoner : attacked his army, thus deprived of their leader, and, in the end, com- pletely broke up and dispersed his force. Tara Bai, though stripped of military force, and founding no title on the raja's pretensions, had still some inexplicable influence which pre- vented the peshwa from crushing her. She derived aid at the present moment from the advance of Salabat Jang, who invaded the Maratta dominions in his turn, and was more formidable than any of his predecessors since Aurangzib ; 12 Of £1,500,000, which formed the £100,000 to Puar and other chiefs. whole revenue, £750,000 was allotted (Grant Duff,, vol. ii. p. 40.) to Holcar, £650,000 to Sindia, and 712 THE ROHILLAS A.D. 1751, A.H. 1165 being accompanied by a French subsidiary force of 500 Euro- peans and 5,000 sepoys, under M. Bussy, the most distinguished of the officers of his nation that ever appeared in India. Though Balaji opposed the invasion with all the resources of Maratta war, he soon learned their inefficacy against his new adversary, who repulsed his assaults, beat up his camps, and, before long, established a general impression of his own superiority. By these means the army advanced to within twenty miles of Puna. Balaji probably felt little uneasiness about his infant capital, but was alarmed by the discovery that the invaders were in communication with Tara Bai and the raja of Colapur, and made overtures for peace : which were in the course of negotiation, when he was unexpectedly relieved from the presence of his enemies. However superior to all parties in the field, Bussy was dependent on the civil arrangements of the prince with whom he served ; and the mismanagement of Salabat and his ministers had embarrassed his finances, thrown his troops into arrears, and brought on such discontents that the army became nearly ungovernable : at the same time Raghuji Bosla (who had just obtained the cession of Cattac and the tribute of Bengal formerly mentioned) broke into the Nizam's part of Berar, took the forts of Gaweilghar and Narnala, and threatened further hostilities. Salabat was therefore well satisfied to make up an armistice, and move back to his own dominions ; where new troubles, in which the Marat tas were again actors, awaited him at no distant period. The division of India into several states, and the necessity of pursuing their separate histories, make it difficult, at this stage, to preserve the order of time, and have carried us on in the Maratta transactions for several years beyond the date to which those of Delhi have been brought down. These last, however, were for a long time of little importance. On the departure of A'saf Jah for the Deckan (A.D. 1741), his place at court was taken by his son, Ghazi ud din, whose political connexion with the vazir, Kamar ud din Khan, was strengthened by his being married to the daughter of that minister. Their union enabled them to resist many intrigues and combinations, which were stained with treachery and assassinations, on both sides, beyond the worst epoch of former history. The only event of importance within that period was the rise of the Rohillas, an Afghan colony, which acquired pos- session of the country east of the Ganges from Oudh to the mountains, and made a considerable figure in later times. Their chief was Ali Mohammed, a Hindu convert, adopted by an Afghan officer ; and they were themselves mostly composed of Yusufzeis and other tribes of the north-east. Though no long XII. 3 THE CRUELTIES OF NADIR SHAH 713 period had elapsed since their appearance as a state, they had already attained to considerable importance ; and it required an expedition headed by the emperor to bring them into temporary submission. But a far more formidable combination of the same people was forming within their native limits ; and fresh invasions were prepared for India, by the death of her most dreaded enemy. Though Nadir Shah had not attained to sovereignty without incurring all the varieties of guilt by which that prize must be purchased in the East, and although he had more than once given instances of barbarous severity in his treatment of some offending towns, yet, on the whole, up to the taking of Delhi, he was, perhaps, less sanguinary than the generality of Asiatic monarchs, especially those of Persia. But the scenes of spoil and slaughter to which he was habituated, together with the intoxication of uninterrupted success, appear to have commenced an alteration in his character, which gradually changed him from a rigorous, but not unjust, master, into a cruel and capricious tyrant. These qualities did not at once disclose themselves to their full extent. The first years after his return from India were occupied in the conquest of the kingdoms of Bokhara and Kharizm (which he subdued and evacuated as he had done India), in an attempt to reduce the hill- tribe of Lezgi, and in three campaigns against the Turks : but when this war was terminated by a treaty, and the mind of Nadir remained without a vent for its natural energy, it turned its powers against itself, and became the abode of dark sus- picions and ungoverned passions. His chief uneasiness arose from the religious prejudices of his countrymen. Though he had endeavoured to render the Sunni religion more accept- able, and to give it something of a national character, by placing its establishment under the special protection of the Imam Jafir, who was a descendant of Ali, and a favourite saint in Persia, yet he was aware that the people were still zealous Shias, and that the feelings of the sect were turned against him by the priests, whose lands and stipends he had confiscated immediately after his accession. He therefore looked on every Persian as his enemy, but was especially jealous of his eldest son, Reza Culi, who, he thought, was the fittest instrument for the purposes of the disaffected. He had been wounded in a forest, on one of his campaigns, by a shot from a secret hand ; and although there was no reason to think that the assassin was not one of the enemy, yet he could not divest himself of the belief that he was an emissary of the prince. The working of these feelings at last led him to put out the eyes of Reza Culi ; and his remorse, instead of softening 714 NADIR'S DEATH A.D. 1747, A.H. 1160 his heart, exasperated his fury. He now taunted all who entreated him for mercy with their failure to intercede when his own son was in danger. His conduct became that of an open enemy of his species. His cruelties were equalled by his extortions, and both were accompanied by threats and ex- pressions of hatred against his subjects. These oppressions led to revolts, which drew on fresh enormities : whole cities were depopulated, and towers of heads raised to commemorate their ruin : eyes were torn out, tortures inflicted, and no man could count for a moment on his exemption from death in torments. During the last two years of his life his rage was increased by bodily sickness, until it partook of frenzy, and until his subjects were compelled to lay plots for ridding themselves of a tyrant whose existence was incompatible with their own. In his distrust of his countrymen, he had enter- tained a body of Uzbek mercenaries, and he had thrown himself, without reserve, on the Afghans, taking a pleasure in mortifying his old soldiers by a marked preference of their former enemies and his own. He now began to harbour a design for employing these new allies in hostility to his own nation, of whom he lived in constant dread. On the day before his death, while labouring under some presentiment of evil, he leaped on his horse in the midst of his camp, and was on the point of flying from his own army to take refuge in a fortress. When his mind was some- what calmed, after this act of madness, he sent for the Afghan chiefs, appealed to their fidelity for the preservation of his life, and concluded by instructing them to disperse his Persian guards, and to seize on his principal nobles. These orders were not given so secretly but they came to the ears of those so nearly concerned ; and as the night was to pass before their destruction was accomplished, they had time to anticipate it by the assassination of their enemy. A number of the conspirators, among whom were the cap- tain of his guard and the chief of his own tribe of Af shar, entered his tent after midnight ; and, although they involuntarily drew back when challenged by that deep voice at which they had so often trembled, yet they soon recovered their courage. One of them made a blow at the king with a sabre, and brought him to the ground ; he endeavoured to raise himself, and attempted to beg his life ; but the conspirators only redoubled their blows until he expired — " the boast, the terror, and the execration of his country." u On the next morning an attack was made on the Persians 13 Pere Bazin (Lettres Edifiantes, best account of that period. The vol. iv.). This Jesuit, who accom- other authorities for his history are panied Nadir Shah as his physician Sir John Malcolm's Persia, the Nddir- in the last years of his life, gives the ndmeh (translated by Sir W. Jones), XII. 3 AHMED KHAN 715 by the Afghans, under the command of Ahmed Khan Abdali, who was joined by the Uzbeks. It was made in the hope of being still in time to rescue the Shah ; but, considering the inferiority of the numbers of the Afghans, they may be reckoned fortunate in making good their retreat to their own country, near the frontier of which the death of Nadir took place.14 Ahmed Khan was the son of Zeman Khan, the hereditary chief of the Abdalis, who headed them on their first conquest of Khorasan. He was descended of the family of Sadduzei, which was looked on with a sort of religious veneration by their tribe ; and, although only twenty- three years of age, he had been distinguished by the particular notice of Nadir Shah.15 He had, therefore, already the command of his own tribe, which he hastened to confirm ; and, extending his influence over the neighbouring tribes and countries, before the end of the year he was formally declared king at Candahar. From some superstitious motive, he changed the name of his tribe from Abdali to Durrani, by which it has been since known.16 He modelled his court on that of Nadir Shah, and assumed all the pretensions of that monarch, but exercised them with the moderation that was required by his circumstances. He was absolute in the plains and cities, as well as in Balkh, Sind, Cashmir, and other conquered provinces ; he left the Afghan tribes to their internal government, retaining only power enough to secure their contingents of troops or money, and and Hanway. Hanway gives a yet it is not probable that one of those different view of the transactions high offices would be conferred on relating to Reza Culi, but Bazin's the chief of a foreign tribe. Ahmed's is confirmed by the Nddimdmeh, early history is well known. He was which likewise gives a lively picture a prisoner with the Ghiljeis when of the tyranny and atrocities of Nadir Candahar was taken by Nadir Shah. Shah. (Livre vi. chap. xix. p. 398. That conqueror received him with Jones' Works, vol. v. ) favour, assigned him an honourable 14 An animated description of this maintenance, and sent him to reside unequal contest, and of the valour in Mazanderan (Nddirndmeh, vol. v. and good order with which the 4,000 of Jones, p. 274). His object prob- Afghans conducted their retreat, is ably was to keep him at a distance given by Bazin, who was a spectator from his tribe as long as the country of the action, " au milieu des balles was unsettled ; for it appears from et des sabres." a contemporary writer, who accom- 15 The person of a Sadduzei was panied the Persian camp, that inviolable, and no officer, of whatever " Nadir Shah always kept a watchful rank, could put an Abdali to death eye over him ; but the officers of all without the authority of a Sadduzei. ranks treated him, in private, with I have been led to think that the great respect." (Memoirs of Abdool- common story of Ahmed having been kereem, p. 176.) a macebearer of Nadir Shah origi- 16 By an unaccountable confusion, nated in the circumstance that the the Indians sometimes call the word " chobdar," which on the west Durranis, Ghiljeis ; in the north they of the Indus belongs to a few of the are also called Khorasanis, but Dur- greatest officers of state (who carry rani is the usual as well as the correct wands or gold sticks), is in India appellation, applied to a common macebearer ; 716 AHMED IN INDIA A.D. 1748, A.H. 1161 to preserve tranquillity. Belochistan, Sistan, and some other places remained under their native chiefs, and owed allegiance and military service. The dissensions of Persia prevented his being disturbed on that side, and enabled him to take possession of most of Khorasan ; but he saw the difficulties of further progress in that direction, and contented himself with pro- tecting Shah Rokh, the son of Nadir Shah, in Meshhed, while his own immediate dependencies were confined to the east of that city. It was to India that he looked for conquest, as well as for pecuniary resources and employment for his army ; and his first operations in that kingdom took precedence, in point of time, of the settlement of several of the other countries just mentioned. His coronation, indeed, was scarcely over, when he began his march for the east, and soon brought all the country up to the Indus under his authority. The circumstances of the Panjab invited his further advance. The viceroy was in revolt, and had no aid from Delhi, so that he offered but a feeble opposition ; and Ahmed, after taking possession of Lahor and other towns on the road, pursued his march to the Satlaj . When he reached that river he found the fords occupied by the Mogul army, which had been sent from Delhi to oppose him, under Prince Ahmed, the heir-apparent, and the vazir, Kamar ud din Khan. Though his force did not exceed 12,000 men,17 he saw that his best chance lay in the vigorous use of it : he crossed the river where there was no ford, left the Indians in his rear, and took Sirhind, where their baggage and stores had been deposited. Among other advantages of this success, he got possession of some guns, with which he was before entirely unprovided. His boldness intimidated the enemy, who halted when they approached him, and intrenched their camp. A small body of horse could do little in such circum- stances ; and although the Mogul vazir was killed by a cannon- ball, while at prayers in his tent, yet his army continued to repel the Durranis till the tenth day, when, after a general and desperate attack on the intrenchments, during which a party of them made its way into the midst of the camp, the assailants were totally repulsed and defeated, and compelled to march off homewards during the ensuing night. The Mogul prince forthwith sent a viceroy to the Panjab ; but, as he was immediately afterwards recalled to Delhi by the 17 He marched with this number he had " not more than 67,000 horse," from Candahar ; and although it was which would be a greater army than probably increased before he crossed that of Nadir Shah : but the Life of the Indus, it would necessarily be Hdfiz Rehmet, translated by Mr. again reduced by the garrisons in the Elliot, gives the more reasonable Panjab. The Seir ul Mutdkherin says number of 15,000 men (p. 25). XII. 4 DEATH OF MOHAMMED SHAH 717 illness of his father, Ahmed Shah turned back before he had reached the Indus, and did not quit the Panjab until the new viceroy had engaged to pay a permanent tribute. Mohammed Shah expired within a month after the battle of Sirhind, and was succeeded by his son, who bore the same name as his Durrani neighbour. CHAPTER IV TO THE EXTINCTION OF THE MOGUL EMPIRE A.D. 1748, A.H. 1161— A.D. 1761, A.H. 1174 Internal arrangements of the new king, A.D. 1748, A.H. 1161. — Attempt to subdue the Rchiilfls by Safder Jang, the vazir, December, A.D. 1748 ; Zi Haj, A.H. 1161 — The vazir marches against them in person, and is defeated, A.D. 1750, A.H. 1163 — He calls in the Marattas, A.D. 1751, A.H. 1164 — Who compel the Rohillas to submit — Defeat of the im- perial troops in Marwar — Second invasion of Ahmed Shah Durrani — Cession of the Panjab — Discontent of Safder Jang, the vazir — He assassinates the emperor's favourite — Ghazi ud din the younger — Resists the vazir — Calls in the Marattas and expels the vazir — The emperor plots against Ghazi ud din — Is defeated and deposed, July, A.D. 1754; Shaban, A.H. 1167 — Ghazi ud din, vazir, September, A.D. 1754; Zi Haj, A.H. 1167 — His violent government — His life in danger in a mutiny — His suspicions of the emperor — His treacherous seizure of Ahmed Shah Durrani's governor of the Panjab. A.D. 1756, A.H. 1170-1 —Third invasion of Ahmed Shah — He takes Delhi — Massacres and ex- actions— His return to his own dominions, about June, A.D. 1757 ; Shawwal, A.H. 1171 — His arrangements for the protection of A'lamgir II. against Ghazi ud din — Najib ud doula, minister — Ghazi ud din applies for the assistance of the Marattas — Previous transactions of that nation — Ragoba, the peshwa's brother, marches to support Ghazi ud din the younger — Takes Delhi — Escape of the heir-apparent and of Najib ud doula — Ragoba takes possession of the Panjab, May, A.D. 1758; Shaban, A.H. 1171 — Plans of the Marattas for the conquest of Hindostan — General combination of the Mahometan princes — The Marattas invade Rohilcand, November, A.D. 1759; Jamada'l awwal, A.H. 1173 — Fourth invasipn of Ahmed Shah, September, A.D. 1759 ; Moharram, A.H. 1173 — Murder of A'lamgir II. by Ghazi ud din, No- vember, A.D. 1759; Rabi us Sani 8, A.H. 1173 — The Maratta troops in Hindostan dispersed by Ahmed Shah — Power of the Marattas at its zenith — Their army — Great preparations for the contest in Hindostan — Arrogance of the commander Sedasheo Bhao — He takes Delhi — Ahmed Shah's negotiation with Shuja ud doula — Who joins the Mahometan confederacy, July, A.D. 1760; Zi Haj, A.H. 1173 — Ahmed Shah marches against Sedasheo Bhao — His bold passage of the Jumna, October 25, A.D. 1760 — Marattas retire to Panipat, and intrench their camp — Their numbers — Force under Ahmed Shah — Protracted operations — Failure of the Maratta supplies — Battle of Panipat, January 6, A.D. 1761 ; Jamada's Sani, A.H. 1174 — Destruction of the Maratta army — Despondency of the Maratta nation — Death of the p6shwa — Dissolution of the Mahometan confederacy — Extinction of the Mogul empire. Ahmed Shah. THE return of the Afghan monarch to the Panjab, combined with his well-known power and activity, kept the new sovereign 718 SAFDER JANG A.D. 1748, A.H. 1161 in a state of continued anxiety, and obliged him to sacrifice a portion of his independence for the sake of such allies as might secure him from foreign conquest. He therefore offered the appointment of vazir to A'saf Jah ; and on his declining it (which was soon followed by his death), he invited Nasir Jang (who succeeded A'saf in the Deckan) to move to his assistance with all the troops he could assemble. But it was not long before he learned that the Durrani king was occupied in the western part of his dominions ; in consequence of which intelligence he was enabled to dispense with the aid he had solicited, and was left to make his internal arrangements in the way best suited to his own views. He appointed Safder Jang, the son of Sadat Khan, to be vazir : and as that nobleman retained his viceroyalty of Oudh, the first efforts of the imperial government were directed to the suppression of the Rohillas, who had again become formidable in the northern part of that province. Safder Jang's prospect was favourable, for All Mohammed was dead ; and he engaged Caiam Khan Bangash, the Afghan jagirdar of Farokhabad, to conduct the war against his country- men : but Caiam Khan, though at first successful, lost his life in battle ; and Safder Jang, disappointed in his main object, turned his misfortune to account, by dispossessing the widow of his ally of the greater part of her territory. His ungenerous conduct brought him no advantage : the people of Caiam Khan's country rose upon his agent, and called in the Rohillas, against whom the vazir was obliged to march in person. He was accompanied by a very numerous army, but so ill-dis- ciplined, that they sacked their own town of Bara (so famous as being peopled by descendants of the prophet), and massacred many of the inhabitants who resisted the outrage. It is not surprising that such an army was routed by a very inferior force. The vazir himself was wounded ; the Rohillas pro- ceeded to carry their guns into his country ; and, though beaten off from Lucknow and Belgram, they penetrated to Allahabad, and set the power of the vazir and the emperor alike at defiance. Safder Jang saw his embarrassments increasing, while his own power of resisting them was exhausted, and had recourse to the humiliating expedient of calling in the Marattas. He applied to Malhar Rao Holcar and Jeiapa Sindia (whom the peshwa had recently sent back into Malwa), and induced them, by the promise of a large subsidy, to join him with the greater part of their forces. By the same means he obtained a renewal of the services of Suraj Mai, raja of the Jats, who had been his confederate on the former expedition. With these auxiliaries, XII, 4 CESSION OF THE PANJAB 719 he defeated the Rohillas in a pitched battle, overran their country, and drove them into the lower branches of the Himalaya, which form their boundary on the north-east. To satisfy the claims of the Marattas, he authorized them to levy their subsidy from the conquered territory ; and their ravages reduced it to a state from which it did not recover for years. By the activity of these plunderers, the Rohillas were reduced to such difficulties for subsistence, that they submitted to Safder Jang, and were content with the assignment of a few villages for the maintenance of their chiefs.1 The little advantage which the Mogul government gained by this success was more than compensated by the defeat of the governor of Ajmir, who had interfered in a civil war between two claimants to the principality of Jodpur. While the weakness of the Mogul government was thus daily more displayed, intelligence arrived that Ahmed Shah Durrani had again invaded the Panjab ; and it was soon followed up by accounts of his having obtained complete possession, and by an ambassador demanding a formal cession of the province. The visit of Nadir Shah was still sufficiently remembered to produce a ready compliance with the demand ; and when the vazir arrived at Delhi with his Maratta allies, he found the arrangement concluded. There is no reason to doubt that he would himself have agreed to it if he had been on the spot, or that he would have disregarded it, after it was made, if he had thought that he could gain by infringing it ; but he had other grounds of dissatisfaction with the court, and he made this cession, which he represented as degrading, the pretext of his complaints. During his absence in Rohilcand his influence at court had been supplanted by a eunuch named Jawid, who was favoured both by the emperor and his mother. Safder Jang, finding that his presence did not restore his authority, took a course which had become familiar at Delhi : he invited Jawid to an entertainment, and had him murdered during the banquet. The emperor was naturally exasperated at this outrage, and he soon got a suitable instrument to avenge him on the vazir. Ghazi ud din, the eldest son of A'saf Jah, had remained at Delhi during the first part of the contest between his younger brothers ; but seeing an opening after- wards, he entered into a connexion with the peshwa, and set off for the Deckan, accompanied by Holcar and Sindia. He died soon after his arrival at Aurangabad ; and his son, a mere youth, whom he had left at Delhi, was promoted by the vazir 's The Life of Hdftz Rehmet gives an account more favourable to the success of the Rohillas. 720 CIVIL WAR A.D. 1754, A.H. 1167 favour to the title of Ghazi ud din, and the high office of commander-in-chief . It was this young man that now guided the operations designed against his benefactor. He was a specimen of such of the Mogul courtiers as were not quite sunk in sloth. Restless and ambitious, as skilful in dissembling his passions as incapable of controlling them, he looked on perfidy and murder as the natural means of attaining his ends, and was as reckless of consequences as regardless of principle. The result of his measures was a civil war ; not determined, as usual, by a battle in the field, but carried on for six months in daily combats in the streets of Delhi. The factious hostility of the parties was embittered by religious fury : the vazir was a Shia, and the test-word of his sect, and that of the Sunnis, became the war-cries of the combatants on each side. At length, the vazir, finding his position becoming weaker, and alarmed at the approach of the Marattas under Malhar Rao, whom Ghazi ud din had called in as an auxiliary, consented to make peace, retaining possession of the provinces of Oudh and Allahabad. Ghazi ud din, thus relieved, and anxious to employ his Maratta friends, while he revenged himself on a partisan of the vazir, marched against Suraj Mai, the raja of the Jats, in the siege of whose strong forts, especially Dig and Bhartpur, he found ample occupation for his army. But the emperor was by this time more disgusted with his arrogant and overbearing temper than he had ever been with Safder Jang ; and moved out with what troops he could assemble, on pretence of hunting, but really to profit by the difficulties in which Ghazi ud din was entangled. So little judgment was shown in his ill-concerted operations that no step had been taken to secure the co-operation of Safder Jang ; and it did not require the acuteness and activity of Ghazi ud din to turn the whole scheme against his enemy. Without discontinuing the siege on which he was employed, he sent his Maratta confederate against Ahmed ; but when he heard that the emperor was taken prisoner in the battle which followed, he repaired in person to the camp, deposed the captive king, and put out his eyes, as well as those of the queen, his mother. He then fixed on one of the princes of the blood for successor to the throne, and proclaimed him by the title of A'lamgir II.2 A'lamgir II. Safder Jang died soon after this revolution, and Ghazi ud 2 The above account is from the son of Jehandar Shah, named Aziz Seir ul Mtitdkherin, and Grant Duff's ud din. — ED.] History of the Marattas. [He was a XII. 4 GHAZI UD DIN 721 din took the office of vazir to himself, leaving Shuja ud doula, the son of Safder Jang, in possession of his father's provinces, of which he was unable to dispossess him. A longer period of tranquillity now elapsed than might have been expected from the restless ambition of the new vazir ; but his internal government was still as arbitrary as ever. At length he pro- voked a numerous body of troops to mutiny, and made himself personally so odious that he was seized by the insurgents and dragged through the streets without his slippers or his turban. Though threatened with instant death, he continued to revile his captors, and to say that they should pay for their insolence with their heads. At length he was rescued by the interposition of the officers ; when he instantly ordered a massacre of the whole body, giving up their tents, horses, and property to plunder, so as not to leave a vestige remaining of the corps. A'lamgir, on pretence of saving the life of Ghazi ud din, had offered, while the disturbance was at its height, to pay the mutineers a considerable sum of arrears, if they would deliver their prisoner into his hands ; but the proposal served only to awaken the suspicions of the vazir, who took additional measures to guard against the possible intrigues of his nominal sovereign . When interrupted by this adventure, Ghazi ud din was on his march towards Lahor, and he now continued his progress. Mir Manu, the Mogul governor of the Panjab, whom Ahmed Shah had continued in his office after the cession, had died. His son had been appointed his successor by the Durrani monarch, but was an infant under the tutelage of his mother. This state of things presented an irresistible temptation to the young vazir : he immediately entered into a most amicable correspondence with the widow, claiming the hand of her daughter, to whom he had really been affianced, and advancing towards Lahor as if to celebrate the marriage ; when he had completely lulled all suspicion, he surprised the town and made the governess prisoner in her bed. While they were conveying her to the camp she broke into invectives against the treachery of her son-in-law, and prophesied the ruin of India, and the slaughter of its inhabitants, as the certain consequence of the vengeance of Ahmed Shah. Her prediction was but too early accomplished ; for Ahmed no sooner heard of the outrage offered to him than he flew to revenge it ; and speedily effecting his march from Candahar, passed through the Panjab without opposition, and soon presented himself within twenty miles of Delhi. Ghazi ud din, having contrived to pacify the widow of Mir Manu and to procure her intercession, repaired at once to 'the Durrani camp, and received pardon as far as his own AA A 722 NAJIB UD DOULA A.D. 1757, A.H. 1171 person. Ahmed Shah, however, insisted on pecuniary com- pensation and marched on to Delhi to enforce his demand. Nearly all the horrors of Nadir Shah's invasion were repeated on his arrival ; for though not himself cruel like that monarch, he had much less command over his troops ; and the city again became a scene of rapine, violence, and murder. Nor were these sufferings confined to the capital ; Ahmed Shah sent a detachment of his army, with Ghazi ud din, to levy a contribution from Shuja ud doula, and marched himself, with a similar intention, against the Jats. He took a fort called Balamghar after an obstinate resistance, and put the garrison to the sword ; but the action which leaves the deepest stain on his character, or rather on that of his nation, was the massacre at Mattra. This city (one of the most holy among the Hindus) was surprised by a light detachment during the height of a religious festival, and the unoffending votaries were slaugh- tered with all the indifference that might be expected from a barbarous people, accustomed to serve under Nadir, and equally filled with contempt for Indians and hatred for idolatry. Meanwhile Ahmed himself was advancing towards Agra, to which city, as well as to one of the Jat forts, he laid siege. But by this time the summer was far advanced, and a mortality broke out among the Durranis, who are incapable of bearing heat ; he was therefore obliged to be content with the money he had levied, and to direct his course towards his own domin- ions. Before he went he married a princess of the house of Delhi, and contracted another to his son, afterwards Timur Shah ; and having been entreated by the emperor not to leave him at the mercy of the vazir, he appointed Najib ud doula, a Rohilla chief of abilities and of excellent character,* to be commander-in-chief at Delhi ; in the hope that his own influence, even when at a distance, would render that nobleman a counterpoise to Ghazi ud din.3 But no sooner had he quitted India than Ghazi ud din once more set him at defiance. He was at Farokhabad when the Afghan king departed, and he immediately gave the appoint- ment of commander-in-chief to Ahmed Khan Bangash, the chief of that place, in supersession of Najib ud doula. But as he was not sufficiently strong to effect another revolution by himself, he called in the aid of the Marattas, who were now in greater power than ever. * [See Mill, iii. p. 551, note. — ED.] Ahmed Shah did not leave Delhi, and 3 The above account is chiefly from that the whole expedition to Agra, as the Seir ul Mutdkherin : it agrees, in well as that to Mattra, was corn- most respects, with the Afghan manded by Sirdar Jehan Khan, accounts ; but the latter state that XII. 4 RAGOBA TAKES DELHI 723 Although Balaji made peace with Salabat Jang (as has been stated) in the beginning of A.D. 1752, it was no obstacle to his entering into fresh intrigues with Ghazi ud din the elder, the brother and competitor of Salabat. On the arrival of that prince from Delhi, Balaji joined him at Aurangabad, with all his forces ; and so numerous was the combined army that even the aid of Bussy might have been insufficient to have saved Salabat Jang, if the danger had not been averted by the sudden death of Ghazi ud din. After this Balaji became involved in affairs to the southward, and transactions with the French and English, which will be best related with the history of those nations. But as his government got settled at home, he ventured to release Damaji Geikwar, and to avail himself of his assistance in settling the province of Guzerat. He made severe terms, involving payments and reservations which led to many disputes in the end ; but at first all went prosperously. Damaji set out in company with the peshwa's brother, Ragoba (A.D. 1755), and they soon reduced the whole province to complete subjection and obedience. Ragoba next levied con- tributions on the Rajput states, and returned through Malwa to the Deckan. In the end of A.D. 1756 he was again sent into Malwa ; and it was to him that the present application was made by young Ghazi ud din. Supported by this ally, the vazir advanced on Delhi, occupied the city, and laid siege to the fortified palace, which held out more than a month. It was, nevertheless, evident that Najib ud doula could no longer withstand his enemies ; and the emperor had already taken the precaution of sending his son, afterwards Shah A 'lam, to a place of safety ; the escape of Najib himself was the principal difficulty remaining, and it was accomplished by means of a bribe to Malhar Rao Holcar. The emperor then opened his gates and received Ghazi ud din as his vazir. Najib ud doula retired to his own country, which was about Seharanpur to the north of Delhi, and divided from Rohilcand by the Ganges. After the taking of Delhi, Ragoba remained encamped near that city, until he was called away to an important and easy conquest. When Ahmed Shah withdrew from India in the preceding year (A.D. 1757), he left his son Timur in charge of the Pan jab, under the guidance of Sirdar Jehan Khan. Their most dangerous opponent was Adin a Beg, a man of a turbulent and artful character, who had been deputy to Mir Manu, and whose intrigues had mainly contributed to the various disturbances and revolutions in the Pan jab. He had fled from the province when it was occupied by Ahmed Shah, and now returned for the purpose of continuing his factious 724 THE PANJAB OCCUPIED A.D. 1758, A.H. 1171 designs. He first employed his influence with the Sikhs, who had recovered their strength during the past disorders ; but not finding their power sufficient for his purpose, he applied to Ragoba, and pointed out the ease with which he might gain a rich prize for his countrymen. Ragoba marched accordingly, took possession of Lahor in May, 1758, and occupied the whole of the Pan jab, the Durranis retiring across the Indus without attempting a battle. The government was conferred on Adin a Beg ; and on his death, which happened soon after, a native Maratta was appointed his successor. Before this change, Ragoba had set off for the Deckan, leaving the Pan jab in temporary security, and the Maratta affairs prosperous in other parts of Hindostan. A force had marched from Delhi under Dataji Sindia, for the purpose of pursuing Najib ud doula into his retreat ; and Najib, unable to resist, left his country to be plundered, and took post at Sakertal, a defensible ford of the Ganges. He maintained himself with difficulty in this position through the whole of the rainy season ; and during this period there was time to mature a combination, to which all the neighbouring princes were called by a common and urgent danger. The Marattas were already masters of the Panjab : they had concerted with Ghazi ud din a plan for taking possession of Oudh ; and they talked without the least reserve of their in- tended conquest of the whole of Hindostan. The apprehensions excited by this state of things induced Shuja ud doula to forget his old enmities, and to enter into a league with Najib ud doula and his former opponents, the Rohillas, the most consider- able of whom was Hafiz Rehmet Khan. As soon as Dataji Sindia was apprised of this confederacy he detached Govind Rao Bondela 4 to invade Rohilcand. So effectually was the order performed that 1,300 villages were destroyed in little more than a month, while the Rohillas were obliged to retreat for safety into the mountains. They were relieved from this distress by Shuja ud doula. He marched from Lucknow immediately on the invasion, surprised the Marattas, and drove them with heavy loss across the Ganges. Dataji Sindia' s force was weakened by the losses of his detachment ; but he had a stronger motive for desiring peace, in the reported approach of Ahmed Shah from Cabul : terms were therefore proposed to Shuja ud doula and the confederates, and a peace was concluded, which was of no long continuance.6 The Afghan king was occupied in the north-western part of 4 A Maratta Bramin, so called from Sagar and Calpi. his employment in " Bundelcand," 5 Seir ul Mutdkherin, and Grant and ancestor of the late chief of Duff. XII. 4 MURDER OF A'LAMGIR II 725 his dominions, when his son was expelled from the Panjab (A.D. 1758) ; and, when about to march to recover that country, he was arrested by the revolt of Nasir Khan, the ruler of the Beloches, who made an attempt to establish his entire inde- pendence. The operations necessary to place the affairs of that country on a satisfactory footing delayed Ahmed Shah for a considerable time ; after which he moved by the southern road of Shikarpur to the Indus ; and, marching up that river to Peshawar, he crossed it in the month of September, and advanced into the Panjab. The Marattas offered no opposition and he avoided the swollen rivers and exhausted country by keeping near the northern hills, until he crossed the Jumna opposite Seharanpur. During the Shah's advance, Ghazi ud din, mindful of A'lamgir's connexion with that monarch and with Najib ud doula, took alarm at the thoughts of his intrigues and his vengeance. He therefore at once gave orders for his assassination, and raised another member of the royal family to the throne.6 This prince's title was never acknowledged : Shah A 'lam, the heir-apparent, was absent on a scheme for getting a footing in Bengal ; and the confederate princes carried on their operations without any ostensible head.7 At this time the Marattas, though not supported by their allies the Jats, had 30,000 horse of their own in the field ; but they were in two bodies, at some distance from each other ; and the hatred of the country people, who were exasperated by their depredations, kept them in ignorance of the movements of the enemy. Ahmed Shah came suddenly on the body under Dataji Sindia, and so effectually surprised it that the chief and two-thirds of the force were cut to pieces on the spot. The other division, under Malhar Rao Holcar, was still at a distance, and commenced its flight towards the country south of the Chambal : it was drawn from the direct line by the temptation of plundering a convoy, and was overtaken and almost destroyed by a Durrani detachment which had made a prodigious march for the purpose.8 Long before these reverses, Ragoba had arrived in the Deckan. The glory of his conquests did not reconcile the Maratta court to the financial results which they produced : instead of an ample harvest of plunder, as used to be customary, he had brought home near a million sterling of debt. This unproductive campaign appeared to more disadvantage when contrasted with that in which the peshwa's cousin, Sedasheo Rao Bhao * (best known in India as ;' the Bhao "), was engaged : he had remained as home minister 8 [Muhyi's sunnat, the son or proceedings are from Afghan accounts, grandson of Cambakhsh. — ED.] 8 Seir ul Mutdkherin. Grant DniT. ? Seir ul Mutdkherin. AhmedShah's * [The son of Chimnaji. — ED.] 726 POWER OF THE MARATTAS and commander-in-chief in the Deckan, had just obtained possession of Ahmednagar, and was on the eve of a settlement, afterwards concluded at U'dgir, by which territorial and pecuniary cessions of great extent were obtained from Salabat Jang, and such a burden imposed on the Mogul government in the Deckan as it was never able to recover. This contrast led to jealousy on the part of Ragoba, who, to Sedasheo's remon- strances on the profusion of his expenditure, replied that the Bhao had better undertake the next expedition himself, when he would find the difference between that and serving in the Deckan. Sedasheo took him at his word, and an exchange of duties was forthwith agreed on. The Maratta power was at this time at its zenith. Their frontier extended on the north to the Indus and Himalaya, and on the south nearly to the extremity of the peninsula ; all the territory within those limits that was not their own paid tribute. The whole of this great power was wielded by one hand : a settlement had been made with Tara Bai, by which the person of the raja was consigned to his nominal minister, and all pretensions of every description were con- centrated in the peshwa.9 The establishments of the Maratta government had in- creased with its power. Its force was no longer composed of predatory bands alone ; it included an army of well-paid and well-mounted cavalry in the direct service of the state, and 10,000 disciplined infantry, who, though a very imperfect copy of that commanded by Europeans, were far superior to any infantry previously known in India. The Marattas had now also a train of artillery surpassing that of the Moguls, which they had so long regarded with awe and envy. They even endeavoured to assume the pomp which was characteristic of their rivals. Rich dresses, spacious tents, and splendid caparisons became common among them, and their courts and retinues were formed on the Mogul model. This show of greatness did not seem misplaced in the peshwa and his ministers, who were Concan Bramins, a comely race, prepared by the mildness and gravity of their manners to take up dignity without any appearance of incongruity ; but it sat very ill on the little active Marattas, whose sturdy figures and vulgar manners gave a ludicrous effect to their attempts at a stately demeanour. Whatever the nation possessed, either of power or magni- 9 Chiefly Grant Duff. [Grant Duff troops, and continued to submit all states that, though the Peshwas their receipts and disbursements to really held all the power, they always the Sattara rajas to the very last, made out all their accounts as See vol. ii. p 16. — ED.] generals in command of the Raja's XII. 4 SEDASHEO BHAO ' 727 ficence, was brought forth to give weight to Sedasheo Bhao. The news of the misfortunes of Sindia and Holcar was only a fresh stimulus to exertion ; and it seemed to be resolved, by one great and decisive effort, to put the finishing stroke to the conquest of Hindostan.10 The prince thus elevated was naturally haughty and over- bearing, proud of the new greatness of his family, and puffed up by recent success into an overweening confidence in his own abilities, both as a statesman and a soldier. He was accom- panied by Wiswas Rao, the peshwa's youthful son and heir- apparent, and by all the great Bramin and Maratta chiefs without exception. Many Rajput detachments were sent to join him as he advanced, and Suraj Mai is said to have rein- forced him with a body of 30,000 Jats. This experienced old chief, who had long been accustomed to act with the Marattas, took occasion to advise the Bhao to leave his infantry and guns, and all his heavy baggage, in the Jat territory, where it would be protected by strong forts, to advance with his horse alone, to harass his enemies in the Maratta manner, and protract the war until the Durranis, who had already been many months in India, should be constrained by the climate to withdraw to their native mountains. This prudent counsel, though seconded by the Maratta chiefs, was at once rejected by their commander, who looked down on a victory obtained by such means, and who also attached an undue importance to his regular infantry and guns. This was not the only occasion on which he slighted Suraj Mai, whom he treated as a petty zemindar, incapable of judging of politics on a large scale. He also offended his Maratta chiefs by his Bramin pride, as well as by his imperious manner of exercising his command, and the absence of the freedom and familiarity to which they were accustomed in their leaders. In this manner he advanced to Delhi, which was held by a small garrison of Durranis and their partisans, Ghazi ud din having taken refuge in the Jat country.* The great extent of the city walls enabled a party of Marattas to climb up a neglected bastion, and the citadel yielded to the artillery after attempting a short defence. The Bhao made an injudicious as well as ungenerous use of this conquest. He defaced the palaces, tombs, and shrines, for the sake of the rich ornaments which had been spared by the Persians and Afghans. He tore down the silver ceiling of the 10 Seir ul Mutdkherin. Grant Duff . power"; and in 1779 he was dis- * [Ghazi ud din joined the Vazir covered at Surat in the disguise of a of Oudh, after the battle of Buxar pilgrim, and forbidden to appear in 1765, " with a handful of followers, within the Company's territories, the miserable remains of his former (Mill, iii. 406 ; iv. 51.) — ED.] 728 ; SHUJA UD DOULA A.D. 1760, A.H. 1173 hall of audience, which was coined into seventeen lacs of rupees,11 and seized on the throne (no longer so precious as of old) and on all other royal ornaments. He even proposed to proclaim Wiswas Rao emperor of India, and was only prevailed on to postpone the measure until he should have driven the Durranis across the Indus. All these proceedings alarmed and disgusted Suraj Mai, who was unwilling to go to extremities with his own near neighbours. He soon after entered on a secret consultation with Shuja ud doula, and withdrew to his own territory without openly renouncing his alliance with the Marattas. The Bhao affected to treat this defection as a matter beneath his notice. During this time the Shah was cantoned for the rains at Anupshehr, on the frontier of Oudh, whither he had been drawn by an important negotiation. He was sure of cordial assistance from Najib and the Rohillas, but the co-operation of Shuja ud doula was by no means equally certain. Though that ruler could not declare against the Mahometans, his interests counselled neutrality, and he had an hereditary disinclination to joining Ahmed Shah, to whom his father, Safder Jang, had been openly opposed. It was to influence him that the Shah advanced to Anupshehr ; and this movement, with the persuasion of Najib ud doula, who paid him a visit for the purpose, succeeded in procuring his accession to the Mussulman cause. He nevertheless kept up a constant communication with the Marattas, which might serve to secure an accommodation, if expedient, and was in the meantime a useful channel for overtures between that people and the Shah.12 After this arrangement was concluded, Ahmed was still prevented moving by the violence of the periodical rains : but before that season was well over he broke up his cantonment and marched towards Delhi. His movement was accelerated by hearing that the Bhao had set out with a picked force to attack Cunjpura, on the Jumna, sixty miles above Delhi, where there was a Durrani garrison, under an officer of distinc- tion. On reaching that river, near the capital, he found it still swollen and rapid : he proceeded up the banks in search of a ford, until he got near Cunjpura, where he had the mortifi- cation to hear that the place had been taken, and the whole garrison put to the sword. Enraged at this disgrace, inflicted almost before his eyes, the Shah passed the river, between 11 £170,000. Casi Rai's Narrative makes the £170,000 include all the (Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. p. 97). plate in the palace. [He was a Hindu of the Deckan, who 12 Casi Hal, the author of the was a mutasaddi in the service of Narrative, was one of the agents in Shuja ud doula. — ED.] Grant Duff this intercourse. AHMED SHAH'S ARMY 729 fording and swimming ; and though he lost many men in this bold undertaking, it made so great an impression on the enemy that they hastened to remove out of his reach, and soon retired to Panipat, where they threw up works round their camp, encompassed by a broad and deep ditch, and protected by their numerous artillery. The Bhao's force consisted of 55,000 cavalry in regular pay, with at least 15,000 predatory Maratta horse, and 15,000 infantry, of whom 9,000 were disciplined Sepoys, under Ibrahim Khan Gardi, a Mussulman deserter from the French service. He had 200 guns, with numerous wall pieces, and a great supply of rockets, which is a favourite weapon with the Marattas. These troops, with their numerous followers, made the numbers within his lines amount to 300,000 men.13 Ahmed Slmh had about 40,000 Afghans and Persians, 13,000 Indian horse, and a force of Indian infantry estimated at 38,000, of which the part consisting of Rohilla Afghans would be very efficient, but the great majority the usual rabble of Indian foot soldiers.14 He had also about thirty pieces of cannon of different calibres, chiefly belonging to the Indian allies, and a number of wall pieces. The inferiority of the Shah's force making an attack on the enemy's camp impossible, he was obliged to encamp also, and to throw up lines round his army. The occurrence of a general action being thus suspended, the Bhao's prospects were by no means unfavourable. He had ordered Govind Rao Bondela to collect what troops he could on the lower course of the Jumna, and that chief now appeared with 10,000 or 12,000 horse in the rear of the Durrani camp. He kept at a safe distance from the army, but spread over the country in the Maratta manner, so as to intercept all supplies. It is probable that the Bhao employed his own light cavalry in the same manner ; for, before much time had elapsed, the Mussulman camp began to suffer severely from the scarcity of provisions. 13 Grant Duff agrees with Casi Rai much exaggerated. There must also in making the paid horse and infantry have been a great reduction from 70,000, as above, and estimates the garrisons in the Panjab and other predatory horse and followers at places, casualties in action, and 200,000. Casi Rai states the whole deaths from the climate during the number at 500,000. (Asiatic Re- hot season and rains ; so that I think searches, vol. iii. p. 123.) 40,000 a sufficient allowance for the 14 The accounts of the Durrani's Afghans. The Indian numbers are themselves make the number of the from Casi Rai : Shuja ud doula had army that crossed the Indus 63,000 ; only 2,000 horse and the same num- but, from a comparison with Nadir ber of foot. Casi Rai's statement, Shah's force, and that of Shah that the Durranis had forty guns of Zeman, in later times, as well as from their own, is quite contrary to their the incorrectness of Asiatic muster- own account, and to all probability, rolls, I conceive the amount to IK> 730 AHMED INDEFATIGABLE A.D. 1760, A.H. 1173 But although the Durranis were not accustomed to the desultory warfare used by the Marattas, they made up for their deficiency by the bold and rapid movements of their detachments : and on this occasion a body of their horse, under Attai Khan, the grand vazir's nephew, made a march of upwards of sixty miles, surprised Govind Rao's camp about daybreak, and completely destroyed his party, Govind Rao himself falling in the action. When the Durranis had got the command of the open country, the Bhao soon felt the difficulty of his situation, enclosed in a fortified camp with such a multitude as he commanded. The Marattas are excellent foragers. Every morning at daybreak long lines of men on small horses and ponies are seen issuing from their camps in all directions, who return before night loaded with fodder for the cattle, with firewood torn down from houses, and grain dug up from the pits where it had been concealed by the villagers ; detachments go to a distance for some days, and collect proportionately larger supplies of the same kind ; and convoys, each of many thousands of oxen, are also brought in from remote countries by banjaras, a sort of camp grain dealers, who partake of the character of the soldiery more than of the mercantile body. All these resources were now cut off ; and after the Marattas had entirely eaten up and consumed the town of Panipat, which was within their lines, they began to feel the severest pressure of want. While things were tending to this conclusion, neither party was inactive in its efforts to hasten the crisis. Continual skirmishes went on between the armies : the Marattas made three vigorous attacks on the Durrani lines ; convoys were always attempting to make their way into the camp ; and though one charged with treasure from Delhi fell into the hands of the Afghans, others were secretly forwarded by Suraj Mai and the Rajput chiefs ; and as the Bhao bore his difficulties with dignity and resolution, their extent and daily increase were unknown to his enemies. In these circumstances, the Indian allies lost all patience, and wearied Ahmed Shah with their importunities that he would put an end to their fatigues by a decisive action : but his constant answer was, ' ' This is a matter of war with which you are not acquainted. In other affairs do as you please, but leave this to me." He had a small red tent pitched in front of his entrenchment, to which he repaired every morning in time for prayers at daybreak, and where he generally returned to dine in the evening. He was on horseback for the whole day, visiting his posts, and re- connoitring the enemy, and never rode less than fifty or sixty miles a day. At night he placed a picket of 5,000 horse as near "THE CUP FULL" 731 as he could to the enemy, while other parties went the rounds of the whole encampment. " He used to say to the Hindostani chiefs, ' Do you sleep ; I will take care that no harm befalls you ' ; and, to say the truth, his orders were obeyed like destiny, no man daring to hesitate or delay one moment in executing them." 15 During this time the Bhao's embarrassments became daily more urgent ; and he made frequent applications to Shuja ud doula through Casi Rai (the author of our narrative) to mediate a peace between him and the Mussulmans. When his proposals were made known to the Shah, he replied that he was only an auxiliary, and had no views of his own ; that he claimed the entire control of the war, but left the Hindostani chiefs to carry on their negotiations as they pleased. The majority of those chiefs were well disposed to an accommodation, which would have been particularly acceptable to Shuja ud doula ; but Najib always steadily opposed the overtures, and succeeded in impressing on the rest the ruin to which they would be exposed if the Shah left India while the Maratta power was still entire. It is not difficult to conceive what must now have been the state of the Maratta host, cooped up amidst the stench of a blockaded camp, among dead and dying animals, surrounded by famished followers, and threatened with the terrible consum- mation of the evils which they already suffered. Among their last efforts they sent out a foraging party, with innumerable camp followers, to endeavour to bring in some relief ; but the helpless crowd was discovered by the enemy, and slaughtered in prodigious numbers. On this the chiefs and soldiers sur- rounded the Bhao's tent in a body ; they said that they had entirely exhausted the last remains of their provisions, and that it was better to run any risk in the field than to perish in misery. The Bhao agreed to their wish : they all partook of bitel leaf, and swore to fight to the last ; and orders were given to make the attack on the next morning before daybreak. In this extremity the Bhao wrote to Casi Rai a short note with his own hand : " The cup is now full to the brim, and cannot hold another drop. If anything can be done, do it, or else answer me plainly at once ; hereafter there will be no time for writing or speaking." Casi Rai was communicating this note to Shuja ud doula, about three in the morning, when his spies came to report that the Marattas were getting under arms. Shuja immediately repaired to the Shah's tent, and desired he might be awakened without delay. The Shah soon made his appearance, ready dressed ; and, mounting a horse which always stood saddled tf C4si 732 BATTLE OF PANIPAT A.D. 1761, A.H. 1174 by his door, he rode towards the enemy, ordering his own troops out as he advanced. One of his first steps was to send for Casi Rai, and interro- gate him about the source of the intelligence he had com- municated. This he did as he was moving forward, until, about a mile from the camp, he met some Durrani horsemen, loaded with plunder, who reported that the Marattas had deserted their camp and fled. On hearing this, Ahmed turned to Casi Rai and asked him what he said to that. But while he was yet speaking, the Marattas announced their presence by a general discharge of their artillery along the whole of their line. " On this the Shah, who was sitting upon his horse smoking a Persian kalyan, gave it to his servant, and with great calmness said to the nabob (Shuja), ' Your servant's news is very true, I see.' : He then sent orders to hasten the advance of his own army. When objects became discernible, the columns of the Marattas were seen advancing slowly and regularly, with their artillery in front. The Shah drew up his army opposite, and himself took post at his little red tent, which was now in the rear of the line. The Mussulmans did not make much use of their guns ; and as those of the Marattas approached, the shot went over the heads of their adversaries. The actual engagement was begun by Ibrahim Khan Gardi, who rode up to the Bhao, respectfully saluted him, and said, " You have often been offended with me for insisting on regular pay to my men ; you shall now see that they have not earned it in vain." He then seized a colour with his own hand, and ordered his battalions to cease firing and charge bayonets. Their attack fell on the Rohillas, whose undisciplined valour only increased their loss, and who were broken after a prodigious slaughter. Their defeat laid open the right of the grand vazir,16 who commanded the centre of the Durrani line, and who was now charged by the Bhao and Wiswas Rao with the flower of the Maratta army. In this charge Attai Khan, the vazir's nephew, was killed by his side, and his Durranis were forced to give ground ; but he himself dis- mounted-, and, with the few that were near him, determined to die at his post. Shuja ud doula was next to the grand vazir's division, but could not see what was passing for the dust : finding the sound of men and horses in that quarter suddenly diminish, he sent Casi Rai to inquire the cause. He found the grand vazir on foot in full armour, in an agony of rage and despair, reproaching his men for quitting him, and endeavouring to bring them back to their ranks. " Ride to Shuja ud doula," said he, " and tell him that if he does not support me imme- 18 [The Durrani Shah Wall Khan.— ED.] ROUT OF THE^ MARATTA ARMY 733 diately I must perish." But Shuja, though he kept his ground, did not venture to take part in the action. Meanwhile these transactions had not escaped Ahmed Shah ; and the reserve which he had ordered up arrived at the critical moment to prevent the destruction of the grand vazir. The battle now became stationary, but the advantage still inclined to the Marattas ; until Ahmed, after rallying the fugitives and ordering all who refused to return to be cut down, gave orders for an advance of his own line, and at the same time directed a division on his left to wheel up and take the enemy in flank. This manoeuvre was decisive; for though the closest combat was raging in the centre, where the Bhao and Wiswas were engaged on horseback, and where they fought on both sides with spears, swords, battle-axes, and even daggers, yet, " all at once, as if by enchantment, the whole Maratta army turned their backs and fled at full speed, leaving the field of battle covered with heaps of dead." The victors pursued them with the utmost fury ; and, as they gave no quarter, the slaughter is scarcely to be conceived, the pursuit continuing in every direction for fifteen or twenty miles. A large proportion of those who escaped from the enemy were cut off by the peasants ; and great numbers who fell alive into the hands of the Durranis were cruelly massacred in cold blood. The Shah himself was not exempt from a share in these bar- barities, for he not only took no means to prevent them, but, at the instigation of Najib, he made a strict search for Jancoji Sindia, who was concealed by a Durrani chief, and who was made away with to prevent detection. He also compelled Shuja ud doula to give up the gallant Ibrahim Khan, who had been made prisoner ; sent for him into his presence to reproach him ; and then gave him over to the grand vazir to be placed in confinement, where he died of his wounds within a week.17 The body of Wiswas Rao was found, and a headless trunk which was believed to be the Bhao's ; but the fate of the latter was so far from certain that, many years after, an impostor obtained credit for a time by assuming his character. The whole number of the slain is said to have amounted to near 200,000. 18 Almost all the great Maratta chiefs were killed or wounded, except those who had been left with a force at Delhi, and Malhar Rao Holcar, who was accused of too early a retreat. Mahaji Sindia, afterwards the founder of a great state, was lamed for life ; and Nana Farnavis, who long kept off the 17 Casi Rai says he was treated with when vengeance (if there had been the greatest cruelty, and that it was any motive for it) would have taken reported that poison was put into his so indirect a course, wounds; but that was not a moment 18 Grant Duff, vol. ii. p. 156. 734 THE MOGUL EMPIRE ENDS A.D. 1761, A.H. downfall of the peshwa's government, narrowly escaped by flight.19 Never was a defeat more complete, and never was there a calamity that diffused so much consternation. Grief and despondency spread over the whole Maratta people ; most had to mourn relations, and all felt the destruction of the army as a death-blow to their national greatness. The peshwa never recovered the shock. He slowly retreated from hi& frontier towards Puna, and died in a temple which he had himself erected near that city.20 The wreck of the army retired beyond the Nerbadda, evacuating almost all their acquisitions in Hindostan.21 Dissensions soon broke out after the death of Balaji, and the government of the peshwa never regained its vigour. Most of the Maratta conquests were recovered at a subsequent period ; but it was by independent chiefs, with tb aid of European officers and disciplined sepoys. The co* federacy of the Mahometan princes dissolved on the cessatu of their common danger. Ahmed Shah returned home witho attempting to profit by his victory, and never afterwards t any share in the affairs of India.22 The actors in the last transactions having now all left stage, the history of the Mogul empire here closes of it Its territory is broken into separate states ; the capita, deserted ; the claimant to the name of emperor is an exile an a dependent ; while a new race of conquerors has already commenced its career, which may again unite the empire under better auspices than before.* 2:1 19 The account of Sedasheo Rao under the title of Shah Alam II. Bhao's campaign is compiled from Najib ud doula, however, remained Grant Duff, the Seir ul Mutdkherin, the imperial deputy at Delhi until and Casi Rai's account of the battle his death in 1770. Shah Alam re- of Panipat (in vol. iii. of the Asiatic turned to his capital, by the aid of Researches, p. 91, etc.). This last is, the Mahrattas, in Dec., 1771. — ED.] perhaps, the best specimen to be 23 [It may be interesting to notice found of narrative by an Indian. a few of the contemporary events The Afghan accounts of Ahmed which were now passing in different Shah's proceeding also furnish some parts of India. In Oct., 1760, Mir information. Ja'far was deposed in Bengal, and 20 Grant Duff. Mir Kasim set up in his place ; 21 Sir J. Malcolm's Mdlwa, vol. i. Lally surrendered Pondicherry to pp. 120, 121. the English, Jan. 14, 1761 ; and in 22 [He recognized Ali Gohar, the the following May Haidar Ali finally eldest son of Alamgir II., as emperor, established himself in Mysore. — ED.] APPENDIX (See page 464) ON THE STATES FORMED ON THE DISSOLUTION OF THE EMPIRE OF DELHI Bahmani kings of the Deckan — Founded by Hasan Gangti, an Afghan of Delhi — Wars with the Hindus, A.D. 1461, A.H. 865— Conquest of R£jamandri ami Masulipatam, A.D. 1477, A.H. 882 — Partial conquest of the Concan, from A.D. 1469 to 1471, A.H. 874 to 876— Dynasty of A'dil SMh at Bijapur— Extent of the kingdom —Attempt to introduce the Shia religion — Religious factions — Rise of the Marattas — Wars with the other Mahometan kings — League against Bijayanagar — Wars with the Portuguese, A.D. 1595, A.H. 1004 — Dynasty of Niz£m Shall at Ahmednagar — Religious factions, A.D 1537, A.H. 944; A.D. 1568, A.H. 976; A.D. 1588, A.H. 997— Wars with the other kings of the Deckan — Miscellaneous facts — Extent of the kingdom— Dynasty of Kutb Shall at Gol- conda — Kuli professes the Shia religion — Extent of his kingdom — Conquest from the Hindus — Wars with the other Mahometan kings — Ibrahim, the fourth king — His wars — Conquests on the coast of Coromandel — Dynasty of Imad ShfCh in Berar — Dynasty of Barid Shall at Bidar — Description of Guzerat — Original extent of the kingdom — Founded by Mozaffer, the son of a Rajput convert, A.D. 1391, A.H. 791-2 — His wars, A.D. 1391, A.H. 793 — His occupation and subsequent evacuation of Malwa, A.D. 1407-8, A.H. 810-1 — Ahmed Shall, A.D. 1411, A.H. 814 — His wars with Malwa and his Hindu neighbours, A.D. 1422, A.H. 825, and with other Mahometan kings, A.D. 1416, A.H. 819; A.D. 1429, A.H. 833— Mohammed Shah, A.D. 1449, A.H. 853— Kutb Shall, A.D. 1451, A.H. 855 — His wars with Mewar, A.D. 1457, A.H. 861 — Da\td Kha'n, A.D. 1459, A.H. 863 — Mahmud BegarjC, A.D. 1459 to A.D. 1511 — His vigorous government — He rescues the Bahmani king of the Deckan, A.D. 1462, A.H. 866— Marches to the Indus — Takes Girna> and Cham p£nir — His wars with Mahometan kings, A.D. 1507, A.H. 913; A.D. 1499, A.H. 905— His maritime power, A.D. 1482, A.H. 887; A.D. 1494, A.H. 900 — He co-operates with the Mamluks of Egypt in a naval war with the Portuguese, A.D. 1508, A.H. 913— Mozaffer II., A.D. 1511, A.H. 917 — Generosity to the king of Malwa — War with Sanga, rana of Mewar — Bah;idur —Takes part in the wars of the Deckan — His supremacy acknowledged by the kings of Kha'ndesh, Berar, and Ahmednagar — Conquest of Malwa, and its annexation to Guzerat, February, A.D. 1531 ; Shjlb^n, A.H. 937 — Troubles in Malwa — War with Mewai, A.D. 1532, A.H. 938 — War with Humayun, and expulsion of Bahadur, A.D. 1533, A.H. 940 — Bahadur recovers his kingdom — Disputes with the Portuguese at Dili — Interview with the Portuguese viceroy —Death of Bahadur, A.D. 1537, A.H. 943— Miraii Mohammed Shall — Mahmud III., A.D. 1538, A.H. 944— Ahmed II., A.D. 1561, A.H. 969— Mozaffer III.— Guzerjlt conquered by Akber, A.D. 1572, A.H. 980 — Malwa — Wars in Hindostaii and the Deckan — Mahmud II., A.D. 1512, A.H. 916 — Ascendency of Medni Ral, a Hindu chief — Mahmud flies to Guzer;tt, A.D. 1517, A.H. 923— Is restored by Baha'dur Shall, A.D. 1519, A.H. 924 — Is defeated, taken prisoner, and released by Sanga, rtina of Mewai — His ingratitude, A.D. 1525, A.H. 932 — He is defeated, and his kingdom annexed to Guzerat, A.D. 1531, A.H. 937 — Prosperity of Khandesh— Conquered by Akber, A.D. 1599, A.H. 1008— Bengal— Jounpiir — Sind — Mult^n— State of the other parts of India. Bahmani Kings of the Deckan 1 BAHMANI KINGS OP THE A.D. A.H. A.D. A.H. DECKAN. Mahmud I. . 1378 780 Mohammed IT. . 1463 867 Ghiyas ud din 1397 799 Mahmud II. . . 1482 887 A.D. A.H. Shams ud din 1397 799 Hasan Gangu (or Piriiz . 1397 800 NOMINAL KINGS. Ala ud din) 1347 748 Ahmed I. 1422 825 Ahmed II. . . 1518 ;>L' l Mohammed I. 1358 759 Ala ud din 1435 838 Ala ud din II. . 1520 927 Mujahid 1375 776 Humayiin 1457 862 Wali . . 1622 929 Baud . . 1378 780 Nizam . 1461 865 Kallm . . 1526 933 HASANT GANGU, 2 the first king of the Deckan, was an Afghan of the lowest rank, 2 The royal title assumed by Hasan was Ala ud din ; but, to distinguish him from other kings of the same name, I have retained his original 1 The accounts of the inferior Mahometan dynasties, where not otherwise specified, are taken from Perishta, who has written a separate history of each (vols. ii., iii., and iv. of Col. Briggs's translations). appellation. 735 736 DYNASTY OF ADIL SHAH arid a native of Delhi. He farmed a small spot of land belonging to a Bramin astrologer, named Gangu, who was in favour with the king ; and, having accidentally found a treasure in his field, he had the honesty to give notice of it to his landlord. The astrologer was so much struck with his integrity that he exerted all his influence at court to advance his fortunes. Hasan thus rose to a great station in the Deckan, where his merit marked him out among his equals to be their leader in their revolt. He had before assumed the name of Gangu, in gratitude to his benefactor ; and now, from a similar motive, added that of Bahmani (Bramin), by which his dynasty was after- wards distinguished. He fixed his capital at Culbarga. The revolt of the raja of Warangal, and the foundation of the new govern- ment of Bijayanagar, were favourable to the insurgents at first, as they in- creased the embarrassments of Mohammed Tughlak ; the raja of Warangal also sent a body of horse to assist Hasan Gangu in his final struggle ; bub their establishment cut off a large portion of the Mussulman dominions towards the south, and soon led to boundary disputes, which involved them in an unceasing war with the new monarchy. After the death of Hasan Gangu. these wars, especially that with Bijaya- nagar, continued, almost without intermission, until the end of his dynasty. They did not for a long time make much alteration in the Hindu and Ma- hometan limits ; the rajas of Orissa and Telingana, at one time, made their way to the gates of Bidar, which was then the capital : but the Mahometans were gainers on the whole ; they occupied most of the country between the Kishna and Tumbadra ; and in A.D. 1421. the Bahmani king, Ahmed Shah, took permanent possession of Warangal, and compelled the raja of Telingana to relinquish his ancient capital. At length, in the reign of Mohammad II. , the last of the Bahmani kinsrs who exercised the functions of sovereignty, Amber Rai, a relation of the raja of Orissa, applied to the Mussulman prince to assist him in asserting his right to that government ; promising, in the event of success, to become his tributary, and to cede to him the districts of Rajamandri and Condapilli, at the mouths of the Kishna and Godaveri. Mohammed accepted the offer, and sent an army to support the pretender. Amber Rai was put in possession of Orissa, and the two districts were made over to the Mussulmans, and occupied by their troops. Amber Rdi subsequently endeavoured to regain possession of the districts he had ceded ; when Mohammed moved against him in person, invaded his country, reduced him to submission ; and after settling Rajamandri and Condapilli, carried his arms to the southward along the coast, annexed Masulipatam to his dominions, and pushed his incursions to the celebrated temple of Canchi, or Conjeveram, near Madras, which he plundered. The same king met with eqiial success on the opposite coast of India, his minister having acquired possession of the Concan, the tract between the Western Ghats and the sea from Bombay to Goa. The Bahmani kings had been occupied in this conquest for more than forty years, and had suffered severe losses in that rugged and wooded country, and, after all; were never able perfectly to subdue it. The Bahmani kings were several times engaged in wars with those of Khandesh and Malwa, generally on the frontiers of Berar ; on one occasion (A.D. 1461-2), the king of Malwa advanced to Bidar, then the capital, and might have taken it, but for the timely aid of the king of Guzerat. Dynasty of A'dil Shah at Bijdpur FOUNDED BY YUSUF A'DIL SHAH, A TURKISH SLAVE A.D. A.H. Ytisuf A'dil Shah . 1489 895 Ismail A'dil Shah 1510 915 A.D. A.H. Ibrahim A'dil Shah 1535 914 All A'dil Shah 1557 965 Ibrahim A'dil Shah A.D. A.H. II. . 1579 987 MaUii A'dil Shah . 1534 941 YUSUF A'DIT SHAH claimed an illustrious descent, supported by a plausible history. The Indian historians represent him as son of the Ottoman APPEND. RISE OF THE MARATTAS 737 sultan Amurath, and brother to Mohammed II., the conqueror of Constan- tinople. They relate that he was an infant at the accession of Mohammed, that he escaped being put to death with the rest of his brothers by the con- trivance of his mother, and was by her means conveyed to Persia. Being obliged to fly from Persia at the age of sixteen, on account of some suspicion of his birth, he was inveigled to the Bahmani court, and there sold as a slave. He rose, according to the course of Mamluk adventurers, until he assumed the crown, as has been related. From that time he was occupied in resisting Kasim Barid, the usurper of the Bahmani government, and in seizing the possessions of other chiefs around, who, like him, wore endeavouring to assert their independence. He was also engaged in wars with the raja of Bijayanagar, in which, on the whole, he was successful. His conquests acquired solidity, from a sort of partition- treaty with the other two new kings (of Ahmednagar and Berar), by which the title of each to his possessions was recognized. A notion of the extent of his kingdom may be gained by assuming the Bima and Kishna rivers for his boundary on the east, the river Tumbadra on the south, the sea from near Goa to near Bombay on the west, and perhaps the Nira river on the north. He afterwards involved himself in fresh troubles by his zeal for the Shia religion, which he had imbibed in Persia from some of the immediate fol- lowers of Shekh Safi. He declared that faith to be the established religion of the state ; and by a proceeding so unexampled in India he caused much disaffection among his own subjects, and produced a combination of all the other Mahometan kings against him. He showed great resolution in supporting himself against this confederacy, and great skill in disuniting its members ; but it was only by renouncing his innovations in religion that he was able, at last, to reconcile himself to all his opponents. His son Ismail was a minor at his death. The minister who acted as Regent planned the usurpation of the government ; and with this view put himself at the head of the Sunni or native faction, and depressed and discharged the foreigners. His plan having failed, the young king became as violent a Shia, formed his army entirely of foreigners, and would enlist no Indian, unless he were the son of a foreigner, a Pitan,3 or a Rajput. He affected foreign manners, and always used the Persian and Tiirki languages in preference to that of the Deckan.4 Ibrahim, the fourth king (the third having only reigned six months), was a zealous Sunni, and discharged all the foreign troops. They were recalled by his son Ali, an enthusiastic Shia. During the minority of Ali's son, Ibrahim II., there was a struggle between the factions, in which, at length, the Sunnis prevailed. A change of more importance than these revolutions of sects was the rise of the Marattas. These Hindus having fallen completely under the kings of Ahmednagar and Bijapur, in consequence of the extinction of their own raja of Deogiri, were treated as subjects, and employed without distrust. Yusuf, the first A'dil Shah, is said to have given a command of 12,000 infantry to a Maratta chief ; 5 and in the subsequent reigns they shared the fortunes of the natives, being entertained in great numbers whenever that party pre- vailed. They were known under the name of B6rgis, were often horsed, and by their light and predatory operations contributed to introduce the system of defence to which the Bijapur government always had recourse when attacked. A remarkable innovation was introduced by Ibrahim (the fourth king). He directed the public accounts to be kept in the Maratta language, instead of the Persian. Considering that this was the language of all the village accountants, and that the body of the officers of revenue and finance were also generally Hindus, it is surprising that the improvement was not introduced sooner, and more extensively copied. 3 Pitan [or rather Pathan] is a name often that Deckanl (a dialect of Hindostani) was the applied by the Indians to the Afghans, but more usual language of the Mussulmans in the be- generally to the Indian descendants of that people, pinning of the sixteenth century. * Ferishta, vol. ii. p. 72. The remark shows 6 Grant Duff, vol. i. p. 84. BBS 738 DYNASTY OF NIZAM SHAH There were constant wars and shifting confederacies among the Mussulman kings ; in both of which the rajas of Bijayanagar often took a part, as did the kings of Khandesh and Guzerat, the latter with much weight. In all these wars the constant enemy of the A'dil Shah was the Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar, their hostility being caused by rival claims to the possession of Solapur and some other districts on the left bank of the Bima. At length, the four great Mahometan governments, A'dil Shah, Nizam Shah, Barid, and Kutb Shah, formed a league against Ram Raja, then ruling at Bijayanagar, the result of which has been related in the text (page 467). Among the other wars of the A'dil Shahi kings, those with the Portuguese are mentioned by the native historians with affected negligence. They state that Goa was lost under Yusuf, retaken by that king in person, and lost again under his son Ismail ; c but as the kings of Bijapur and Ahmed- nagar afterwards made a simultaneous attack on the Portuguese at Goa and Choul (A.D. 1570), and were both repulsed, it is evident that they could not have been insensible to the formidable character of their antagonists.7 This confederacy, as well as the battle of Talicota, was subsequent to the accession of Akber. When that emperor first interfered effectually in the affairs of the Deckan, the last-mentioned king, Ibrahim II., had emerged from a long minority, and was taking an active part in the internal disputes of Ahmednagar. Dynasty of Nizam Shah at Ahmednagar FOUNDED BY AHMED, A HINDU CONVERT Ahmed . Burh&n . Husein . MarteZa A.D. A.H. 1490 896 1508 914 1553 961 1565 972 A.D. A.H. Miran Husein . 1588 996 Ismail . . . 1588 997 Burhan II. 1590 999 Ibrahim Ahmed II. Bahadur A.D. A.H. 1594 1003 1594 1004 1595 1004 THE father of Ahmed, the founder of the Nizam Shahi dynasty, was a Bramin of Bijapur. Having been taken prisoner and sold for a slave to the Bahmani king, he was converted, and rose to the first dignity in the state, and his son declared himself king (as has been related) on the dissolution of the Bahmani government. So far were his descendants from being ashamed of their origin, that they had frequent wars with the kings of Berar for the possession of Patri, a village in the latter country, to which their Bramin ancestors had been hereditary accountants. In the same spirit Burhan (who was the second king) appointed a Bramin, named Kawar Sein, to be his peshwa, or prime minister, and derived great advantage from the confidence he reposed in him. This dynasty imitated that of Bijapur in employing Marattas, but not to the same extent. Those in their service were chiefly infantry, and much employed as garrisons in hill-forts. Their liberality to other religions did not save the Nizam Shahs from the influence of the sects in their own. The second king openly professed the Shia religion ; and, although assailed by tumults within, and a combination of the orthodox kings around, was more successful than his neighbours at Bijapur, and made good the establishment of his own sect. A change took place in consequence of the murder of Miran Husein, the fifth king, the foreigners by whom that act was effected being massacred, and the Sunni religion introduced. A feud, however, broke out among the Sunnis themselves under the sixth king, Ismail, in consequence of a powerful prime minister declaring for a new sect called Mehdevi, or Gheir Mehdi, which is very odious to the other Mussul- mans. It may have been owing to this division that we find the native Deckanis and the Abyssinians on different sides in the dissensions which ultimately destroyed the monarchy ; but those dissensions had not much of a religious character. The share of the Ahmednagar governments in the wars and confederacies of the other kings has been noticed. It had also wars of its own with Khandesh 6 This was the second capture by Albuquerque, in A.D. 1510. 7 Briggs's Ferishta, vol. iii. p. 134. Grant Duff, vol. i. p. 77. APPEND. DYNASTY OF KUTB SHAH 739 and Berar, the last of which kingdoms it subverted, in A.D. 1572, and annexed the territory to its own. Previous to this success, the Nizam Shahi king was subjected to a great humiliation, having been besieged in his capital by Bahadur Shah, king of Guzerat, and compelled to acknowledge his superiority, and to do homage to him in very submissive forms.8 A still greater degradation awaited his successor, who was besieged in Ahmednagar by Ram Raja of Bijayanagar, then combined with Bijapur, and reduced to accept an interview with him on terms of marked inferiority. It was the pride displayed by Ram Raja on this and some other occasions, that led to the general combination against him, the result of which has been already mentioned. It gives a great idea of the power of Ahmednagar, although on an unfor- tunate occasion, that in one campaign against the A'dil Shah the king lost upwards of 600 guns. Many of these may have been mere swivels ; but one was the famous cannon now at Bijapur, which is one of the largest pieces of brass ordnance in the world.9 Ferishta mentions the great prevalence of duels (an uncommon practice in Asia) under this dynasty. They were occasioned by the most trifling disputes ; it was reckoned dishonourable to decline them, and no blame was attached to the death of the parties, provided the combat was a fair one. Ferishta himself witnessed a meeting of this sort, in which there were three on each side, and five of the combatants grey-bearded men, and in considerable estimation at court. Three were killed on the spot, and the survivors died of their wounds.10 These duels were always fought with sabres. At its greatest extent the kingdom of Ahmednagar comprehended all that is now called the Subah of Aurangabad, and all the west of that of Berar. It also possessed a portion of the seacoast in the Concan, between the tracts belonging to Guzerat and Bijapur. Dynasty of Kutb Shah at Qolconda FOUNDED BY KULI KUTB, A TURKMAN SOLDIER Sultan Kuli . Jamshld A.D. A.H. 1512 918 1543 940 Subhan Kuli . Ibrahim A.D. A.H. 1550 957 1550 957 A.D. A.H. Mohammed Kull . 1580 988 SULTAN KULI KUTB SHAH, the founder of the dynasty, was a Turkman of Hamadan in Persia. He claimed descent from the head of his clan, and he certainly came to India a free man in quest of military service. He entered the guards of the Bahmani king, distinguished himself on many occasions, and was governor of Telingana when the monarchy broke up. It is not certain when he assumed the royal title, but he was king in substance from A.D. 1512, A.H. 918. He openly professed the Shia religion from his accession, and met with no opposition in introducing it into his dominions. At the end of a long reign he left a territory extending from the Godaveri to beyond the Kishna, and from the sea to a line drawn west of Heiderdbud about the seventy-eighth degree of east longitude. The north-western districts of this territory were fragments of the Bahmani kingdom, and those on the south-west were gained from Bijayanagar ; but by far the greater part of Sultan Kuli's conquests were from the remains of the Warangal family and other chiefs of Telingana. He gained a great victory at Condapilli over all those chiefs united, with the addition of the raja of Orissa ; and although the raja of Bijayanagar afterwards endeavoured to support the cause of his religion, the government of Warangal was never restored, nor the Mahometan power disturbed, within the limits above mentioned. Sultan Kuli was sometimes interrupted in his operations against the Hindus 8 On this occasion Bahadur Shah showed his the calibre is two feet four inches (Grant Duff, superiority by speaking Guzer&ti, his own vol. i. p. 112) ; it is only fifteen feet long (Colonel language; and the Nizam Sh&h replied in Persian, Sykes, Bombay Transactions, vol. iii. p. 62), which might be considered as common to both. and weighs forty tons (Colonel Briggs, above 9 Briggs's Ferishta, vol. iii. p. 213. This gun is quoted). four feet eight inches in diameter at the muzzle ; '" Rriggs's Ferishta, vol. iii. p. 208. 740 DYNASTIES OF IMAD AND BARID by attacks from his Mussulman neighbours, especially Ismail A'dil Shah. He, however, took a much less active share than the rest in the wars among the kings of the Deckan. He was murdered at the age of ninety, by his son Jamshid, who succeeded him, and reigned for seven years. The third king was a minor, and only reigned a few months ; but Ibrahim, the fourth of the line, reigned thirty years, and his time was marked by most of the few important transactions of the dynasty. He had a Hindu minister named Jagdeo, and most of his infantry and all his garrisons were composed of Telingas of the same religion. Jagdeo quar- relled with his master, fled to Berar, and was there appointed to a great command. He afterwards went over to Ram Raja of Bijayanagar, and by his influence a combination formed between the raja, Ali A'dil Shah, and Ali Barid Shah, was enabled to overrun a great part of Ibrahim's country, and shut him up in his capital : peace was however restored, and Ibrahim afterwards joined in the general confederacy against Ram Raja. The Kutb Shahi kings took part in the wars and alliances of the other Mahometan monarchs, in which they are generally connected with the kings of Ahmednagar ; but these occasioned no permanent change in their con- dition : their aggrandisement was always at the expense of the Hindus. Ibrahim took advantage of the disturbances in Orissa, and the invasion of that country from Bengal, to recover Rajamandri and the country north of the Godaveri up to Chicacol, which had been seized by the Hindus on the dissolution of the Bahmani kingdom ; and his successor, Mohammed Kuli, carried on his conquests to the south of the Kishna, and added Gandicota, Cadapa, and the rest of the country up to the river Penar, to his dominions. It was this last king who built Heiderabad. He at first gave it the name of Bhagnagar (by which the Hindus call it still), and to it he transferred his capital from the neighbouring site of Golconda. Mohammed Kuli reigned for many years after Akber's capture of Ahmed- nagar, but his situation was little affected by those remote transactions. Dynasty of Imdd Shah in Berdr FOUNDED BY FATH ULLAH, DESCENDED FROM A CONVERTED HINDU Path Ullah Ala ud din A.D. A.H. 1484 890 1504 910 A.D. A.H. Derya (about) . 1529 93G Burhan (perhaps) 1560 968 Tufal A.D. A.H. THE little that is known of this small kingdom has found a place in the history of the neighbouring states. It extended from the Injadri hills to the Godaveri : on the west it bordered on Ahmednagar and Khandesh, about the middle of the seventy-sixth degree of east longitude. On the east its limits are uncertain, but probably did not take in Nagpur. Though Fath Ullah exercised sovereign authority, yet Ala ud din seems first to have taken the title of king.11 During the minority of Burhan Imad Shah, who probably succeeded about 1560, his prime minister, Tufal, usurped the government, and the state merged in that of Ahmednagar in A.D. 1572, A.H. 980. Dynasty of Barid Shah at Bidar Kasim . Amir All A.D. A.H. 1498 904 1504 910 1549 945 Ibraliim Kasira II. A.D. A.H. 1562 990 1569 997 Mirza All Amir II. A.D. A.B 1572 1000 THE Barids derived some importance at first from appearing as the ministers and representatives of the Bahmani kings ; but the illusion was not kept up beyond the life of Kasim : neither he nor Amir took the title of king. 11 This is variously related in different places of Ferishta ; but see vol. iii. pp. 350, 351. APPEND. KINGS OF GUZERAT 741 Their territories were small and ill-defined, and the period of their ex- tinction is uncertain. Amir II. was reigning in A.D. 1(50!), A.H. 1018, when Ferishta closed that part of his history. Mozaffer Shah Ahmed Shah Mohammed Shah Kutb SMh . A.D. 1396 1412 1443 1451 A.H. 799 815 847 855 Daud SMh reigned one week. Gaze rut KINGS OF GUZERAT | A.D. A.H. MahmiidShahBegara 1459 863 Mozaffer Shah II. . 1511 917 Secander Shah . 1526 932 Mahmiid SMh II. . 1526 932 Bahadur Shah . 1526 932 A.D. A.H. Miran Mohammed Shah Farukl . 1536 943 Mahmiid ShahUlI. 1553 961 Ahmed Shah II. . 1561 969 Mozaffer SMh III. 1561 969 GUZERAT is bounded on the north-east and east by a hilly tract which connects the Aravalli mountains with the Vindhya chain ; on the south it has the sea, which nearly surrounds a part of it, and forms a peninsula equal in extent to all the rest of the province ; on the west it has the desert, including that portion called the Rin. The only open part of the frontier is on the north- west, where a plain between the hills and the desert connects it with Mar war. The northern hills are steep and rugged ; and the branches which they send out towards the south are covered with thick woods, as are the numerous ravines which run from their base to the principal rivers. The country gradually gets more open as it recedes from the mountains, and the lower part, stretching for about sixty miles in depth along the sea, is a plain o£ extraordinary fertility. The peninsula is sometimes distinguished from the rest of Guzerat, and was formerly called Soreth (or Surashtra), now Katiwar. It is for the most part composed of low hills, and is, in general, naked and unfertile ; but there are separate plains on the sea, which extend to a great distance inland, and are rich and open. Nearly in the south is a hilly district, called Babriawar, which Is covered with woods. When Guzerat separated from Delhi, the new king had but a narrow territory on the plain. On the north-west were the independent rajas of Jhalor and Sirohi, from whom he occasionally levied contributions. The raja of I'dar, another Rajput prince, was in possession of the western part of the hills ; and though he was often obliged to pay contributions, and sometimes regular tribute, yet those advantages were seldom gained without a struggle ; and he was a constant source of disturbance to the king of Guzerat, by joining his enemies and harbouring fugitives from his country. The rest of the hilly and forest tract was held by the mountain tribes of Bhils and Culis, among whom some Rajput princes, mostly connected with Me war, had also founded petty states.12 The peninsula was in the hands of nine or ten Hindu tribes, who had mostly come from Cach and Sind, at different periods, some centuries before. They were probably tributary, but by no means obedient. All these petty states preserved their existence during the ascendency of the Moguls, and were, within these few years, almost as independent as under the kings of Guzerat. The real possessions of those kings, therefore, only included the plain between the hills and the sea ; and even of that the eastern part belonged to an independent raja, who resided in the hill-fort of Champanir. On the other hand, the Guzerat territory stretched along the sea to the south-east, so as to include the city of Surat and some of the country beyond it. With these small means, the kings of Guzerat made, at least, as consider- able a figure as any of the minor kings, except the Bahmani family, in the Deckan. Mozaffer Shah FABHAT UL MULK was appointed governor of Guzerat in the reign of Firuz Tughlak. Having given great offence to the Mussulmans of the provinces, 13 D6ngarpur, Bhanswarah, etc. ; these subsist to the present day. 742 MOZAFFER SHAH and even excited the suspicions of the court of Delhi, by the means he took to court the Hindus, he was displaced by Nasir ud din, and Mozaffer Khan was appointed in his room. Farhat opposed the entrance of the new governor, with an army chiefly composed of Hindus ; he was defeated, and Mozaffer took possession.13 Mozaffer was the son of a Rajput convert, who had risen from a low station about the court to the highest offices. He had himself been brought up a Mussulman and a nobleman, and appears to have been rather desirous of making his origin be forgotten by hostility to the Hindus. It is uncertain when he took the title of king. His reign commenced in reality from the time when he became governor. He was successful in his wars. He occupied I'dar, and brought the raja to submission. He fought a great battle in the peninsula, after which he took and retained Dili, on the seacoast : he went to war with the king of Khandesh, about the district of Sultanpur ; and although hostilities were often renewed in after reigns, yet, for his time, the question was favourably settled. He once besieged Mandalghar, in Mewar, and extorted a contribution : he proceeded from that place to Ajmir, on a pilgrimage ; and on his way back plundered Jhalor, and destroyed the temples. His greatest war was with Malwa. Hushang Shah, the second king, was suspected of poisoning his father ; and as Mozaffer had been on very friendly terms with the deceased, he made the revenge of his murder a pretext for invading Malwa. He was successful beyond his hopes : he defeated Hushang, made him prisoner, and got possession of the whole of his kingdom. He soon found, however, that he could not retain his conquest ; and, per- ceiving that the inhabitants were about to set up another king, he thought it prudent to get what he could from his prisoner, and to restore him to the throne. During Mozaffer's government, Mahmiid Tughlak came to Guzerat, on his flight from Delhi : he was ill-received, and obliged to repair to Malwa. Hushang Shah did not feel his restoration as a favour, for on the death of Mozaffer he took part with a faction opposed to the accession of that king's grandson, Ahmed Shah, and began a series of wars between the two countries that lasted for many years. Ahmed Shah thrice invaded Malwa, and once penetrated to Saranpur, in the east of the kingdom, where he gained a victory. On the other hand, the king of Malwa assisted Ahmed's enemies, Hindu as well as Mahometan, combined with the refractory rajas within the territory of Guzerat, and twice made his way to the capital, but without any important result. Ahmed Shah made, also, the usual expeditions against I'dar, Jhalor, and the peninsula, and had two wars with Khandesh. On one occasion, he marched as far as Nagor, in the north of Marwar, where his uncle was in revolt against Seiad Khizr, of Delhi. He was obliged to retreat on the advance of that prince, and was pursued as far as Jhalor.1* He was also engaged with a new enemy, in consequence of the capture of the islands of Bombay and Salsette by the Bahmani king of the Deckan, during an attempt to subdue the Concan.15 It does not appear how those places came into the hands of the king of Guzerat. It may be inferred that they were detached possessions, as the expedition to recover them was made by sea. The Bahmani king was driven out, but remained hostile, and more than once joined the king of Khandesh in his wars with Ahmed Shah. Notwithstanding all these disturbances, Ahmed Shah brought the interior of Guzerat into good order. He established forts in different places, to bridle the disaffected ; and built the town of Ahmednagar (the solid and extensive walls of which still remain) as a check on the raja of I'dar. He also founded Ahmedabad, thenceforth his capital, and still one of the greatest cities in India, both from the number of the inhabitants and the magnificence of the buildings.16 13 Mr. Bird's History of Guzerat, p. 181, and notes. 14 FerisJita, vol. i. p. 509, vol. iv. p. 18 ; and Bird's Guzerat, p. 189. 15 Brigge's FerisJita, vol. ii. p. 413. A some- what different order is given to the same events in vol. iv., p. 27. 16 Ahmed Shin is said to have introduced the practice of giving to each soldier land to the yearly value of half his pay, the whole having APPEND. MAHMXTD SHAH BEGARA 743 Ahmed Shah was a zealous Mussulman. He destroyed temples and built mosques ; and is said to have greatly contributed to extend his religion among his subjects. The usual contests with Malwa and I'dar continued under the next two kings, Mohammed Shall and Kutb Shah. The second of them (Kutb Shah) commenced a more serious war with Kumbho, the rana of Mewar , whose capital was Chitor. Mewar had been invaded by Ahmed Shah in the time of Mokal, the predecessor of Kumbho ; but the present war originated in the support given by Kutb Shah to his relation in Nagor, against the Rajput prince, who was laying the foundation of that great power, afterwards employed by his grandson Sanga against Baber. In these wars the king of Guzerat had almost invariably the advantage. He gained two victories, besieged Chitor, took A'bu (a mountain celebrated for its sanctity), and subdued the raja of Sirohi, one of Kumbho's allies. On the death of Kutb Shah, his uncle, Daud Khan, was placed on the throne. He was deposed within a few days for incapacity, and became an eminent dervise. He was succeeded by Mahmud, surnamed Begara, a brother of Kutb Shah. Mahmud was fourteen years old at his accession ; he reigned for fifty-two years, and was one of the greatest of the kings of Guzerat.17 He soon showed his vigour in repressing the turbulence of his nobles ; and at an early period of his reign he made a diversion in favour of the former enemy of his house, the Bahmani king of the Deckan, when besieged in his capital, and reduced to extremities by the king of Malwa. His territory having been harassed by depredations from Cach, he crossed the Rin, overran that country, carried his arms to the Indus, and defeated a considerable body of Beloches on its banks. His greatest exploits were the reduction of Girnar, or Junaghar, and of Champanir. The first of these places (Girnar) is in the south of the peninsula, and stands on a hill equally remarkable for its strength and sanctity. These enterprises occupied several years,13 and afforded examples of the usual desperation of the Rajputs, and of more than ordinary bigotry among the Mussulmans. The raja of Girnar was compelled to embrace the religion of Mahomet, and the raja of Champanir was put to death for a firm adherence to his own. Mahmud also quelled insurrections at home, and levied tribute on I'dar. In one of his wars with Khandesh, he marched as far as Asirghar ; and on a previous occasion he had obliged the Nizam Shahi, king of Ahmednagar, in the Deckan, to raise the siege of Doulatabad. But what chiefly distinguishes him from former Mussulman princes is the number of his maritime expeditions. He took the islands of Jigat and Bet, then, as in recent times, nests of pirates ; and sent out vessels mounting guns from Cambay, which defeated the pirates of Balsar in an action at sea. He also sent a sea and land force against Bombay, then occupied by a revolted officer of the Bahmani king. On this occasion, his fleet was destroyed in a storm, and he owed his recovery of Bombay to the co-operation 'of the king of the Deckan. He had afterwards a more conspicuous opportunity for signalizing his naval enterprise. The Mamluk Sultan of Egypt had equipped twelve ships in the Red Sea, for the purpose of attacking the Portuguese in India, and Mahmud entered zealously into his views. He sailed, himself, to Daman, and afterwards to Bombay ; and at length sent a large fleet from Diu, under the command of Aiaz Sultani, an officer who had distinguished himself at previously been issued in money. The measure stantly dropped down dead. His usual way of is spoken of by the Guzerat historian with putting men of consequence to dcatli was to applause, although it appears calculated to blow on them after he had been chewing bftel. injure both the discipline and the comfort of the He is the original of Butler's Prince of Cambay, soldier. — (Bird's History.) whose 17 The European travellers of his day seem to " H M f i have formed a tremendous idea of this monarch. , . , „ Bartema (in Ramusio, vol. i. p. 147) and Barbosa Is asP' and baslllsk> and **>*<*. are both full of him. One of them gives (Ita- The fat,e of his wives is related with perfect musio, vol. i. p. 296) a formidable account of his seriousness by the above authors. mal appearance, and both agree that a '• Girnar was annually attacked from A.I). 1468 principal part of his food consisted of mortal to 1470, A.H. 873 to 875. and Champantr was not P°lt°^' and so impregnated w*s 1™ system takcu iiu A>rx 18O A>11> 888 with his diet, that if a fly settled on him it in- 744 MOZAFFER II. Champanir. The Guzerat vessels, though much inferior in size to those of the Mamluks, were numerous ; and the combined fleets were strong enough to attack the Portuguese squadron in the harbour of Choul, south of Bombay. The particulars of the operations that followed belong to the history of the Portuguese. It may be sufficient to say, here, that the Mussulmans were successful in this first action, and that Aiaz is mentioned with applause by the Portuguese writers for his humanity and courtesy on the occasion. The combined fleet was afterwards defeated, and the Mamluk part of it annihilated, in a great battle close to Diu.18 The Mamluks, however, continued to send squadrons to the Indian seas, a practice which was imitated by the Turks after their conquest of Egypt. Their object was to open the navigation of the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, and for this purpose they assisted the native powers of India in their wars with the Portuguese ; but they never entertained any views towards obtaining possessions for themselves in that country. The reign of Mozaffer II. opened with a splendid embassy from Shah Ismail, king of Persia. The same compliment was paid to most of the Indian princes, and was probably designed to conciliate their favour to the Shia, religion, which Ismail was so eager to introduce. The next six years were spent in inglorious wars with I'dar. A more honourable enterprise presented itself at the end of that time. Mahmiid, king of Malwa, having been almost entirely deprived of his authority by M6dni Rai, a Hindu chief to whom he had confided the management of his affairs, fled to Guzerat, and solicited the aid of Mozaffer, who went in person into Malwa, took the capital, compelled Rana Sanga, who was coming to the aid of the Hindu cause, to retreat ; and, after restoring Mahmiid to his authority, withdrew to Guzerat without exacting any sacrifice in return. He had not long quitted Malwa before Sanga returned, defeated Mahmud, and made him prisoner ; but generously released him, and made an honour- able peace. Sanga was now able to revenge himself on Mozaffer II., by marching to the assistance of the raja of I'dar, and plundering Guzerat as far as Ahmedabad. Next year Mozaffer II. retaliated by sending an army, under Aiaz Sultani, against Sanga. Aiaz besieged the rana in Mandesor, and had granted him terms, when the king of Malwa arrived to co-operate with his army. ' The king earnestly pressed Aiaz to profit by this advantage ; but Aiaz was steady to his engagement, and withdrew his troops in spite of the king's remon- strances. Mozaffer II. died in A.D. 1526, after a reign of fourteen years. The rapid disappearance of two sons and successors of Mozaffer (whose names were Secander and Mahmud II.) left the throne open to Bahadur. This prince, though only the third of Mozaffer's sons, seems always to have been looked on as the probable heir of his father : on some discontent, how- ever, he had left the court and gone to Delhi, where he remained with Sultan Ibrahim Lodi until Baber's invasion. His absence occasioned his temporary exclusion ; but the assassination of one brother and the deposal of the other replaced him in his station. He had still to encounter opposition from a third brother, who was assisted by Sanga and some other Hindu chiefs. This last pretender being killed in action, Bahadur remained the only claimant to the throne. His first measure was to reduce the Rajput princes of I'dar and the neigh- bouring mountains. He was soon after solicited by his nephew, the king of Khandesh, to come to his assistance, and that of the king of Berar, who had confederated against Burhan Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar. The whole conduct of the war was conceded to Bahadur, and his per- manent supremacy was formally acknowledged by the other kings. So successful were his operations, that Nizam Shah, though joined by Barid Shah, king of Bidar, was obliged to yield the points in contest with Khandesh >» The Mahometan historians suppress this and Aiaz ; and the character of the latter, given defeat, and say very little of their wars with the by the Portuguese viceroy, is related in Faria Portuguese, even when their own party was (vol. i. p. 193) : "He said he had not seen a more successful. Three or four years after this battle, perfect courtior, or fitter to deceive, and at the an interview tcok place between Albuquerque same time please, an understanding man." APPEND. BAHADUR SHAH 745 and Berar, and to gratify the vanity of Bahadur Shah by an act of personal homage, as has been mentioned in another place. Bahadur's next enterprise was attended with a still more splendid result. Mahmud, king of Malwa, who had been restored to his throne by Mozaffer II., was not restrained by that obligation from intriguing against the son of his benefactor ; and with equal ingratitude he seized the opportunity of Rana Sanga's death to attack his successor, Rana Rattan Sing. The rana was before in close alliance with Bahadur Shah, and they now united to revenge their common injuries. Mahmud was made prisoner in Mandii, his capital, and was sent to Guzerat. He was afterwards put to death ; and his do- minions were taken possession of by Bahadur Shah, and annexed to his hereditary kingdom. Bahadur had not sufficient moderation long to enjoy so much good fortune. One of the principal instruments of the revolution in Malwa was Silhadi, a Rajput, who had risen under Mahmud to the government of Raisin, Bhilsa, and the other places in the east of Malwa, to which he had since added the possession of Ujein. Bahadur Shah appears to have thought his conquest incomplete, whilo so powerful a chief remained, especially as Silhadi was in some measure under the protection of the rana of Mewar. He therefore made him prisoner while on a visit to the royal camp ; and, taking advantage of the surprise occasions I by this act of treachery, got possession of the city of Ujein : Bopat Rai, the son of Silhadi, fled to Chitor ; and Raisin, a strong hill-fort belonging to that chief, held out under his brother. It was long before Bahadur could overcome the opposition thus raised : and he might have entirely failed in doing so, if* Rattan Sing, the raua of Chitor, had not died, and been succeeded by his son Vicramajit, under whom that government lost much of its energy. During Bahadur's absence on this expedition, a serious attack had been made, on Dili by a great armament of the Portuguese, but had been repulsed by the valour of the garrison (Feb., 1531). Having taken whatever measures were necessary against this enemy, Bahadur Shah again turned his attention to Chitor. So much was the power of Mewar diminished, that he commenced his operations with the siege of the capital ; and at the end of three months constrained the raja to purchase peace by the payment of a heavy contribution.20 It was about this time that Bahadur Shah provoked the war with Humayiin, the result of which has already been related.21 During Bahadur's abode at Diu, he entered into negotiations with the Portuguese. Among other concessions he gave them leave to build a factory ; and they furnished him, in return, with a body of 500 Europeans, to assist him in recovering his kingdom. As soon as Guzerat was settled, after the retreat of the Moguls, Bahadur Shah again turned his attention to Dili, where the Portuguese were surrounding their new factory with a wall, and, as he conceived, converting it into a fortifica- tion. He there found Nuno de Cunha, the Portuguese viceroy, who had come with a fleet to secure his new acquisition. Remonstrances and explana- tions took place, to appearance on a friendly footing ; but both the Mussul- man and Portuguese historians justify the belief that treachery was meditated by both parties, and that each was watching an opportunity to execute his design. Nuno de Cunha, when invited to visit the king, feigned sickness ; and Bahadur, to lull his suspicions, went on board his ship with a few atten- dants. When on board, Bahadur Shah was alarmed at some whispering and signs which passed between the viceroy and his attendants, and, taking a hasty leave, got into his boat to go ashore. An affray took place, which the Portuguese represent as accidental, and the Mussulmans as designs I ; and the result was, that several lives were lost on each side, and that Bahadur Shah threw himself into the sea, and, after being stunned by a blow of an oar, was despatched with a halbert. 20 Among the property given up on this treasury of the Grand Signer. — (Colonel Brigga's occasion was a girdle of jewels, which had been note on Ferishta, vol. iv. p. 141.) l^or the date taken from a former king of Guzerat, and which Of (his Mrst siege, see Bird's History of Guzerat, was afterwards sent with Bahadur Shah's family t>. •_>!<;, note. to Medina, and found its way at last into the ••" Pages 433, 434. 746 KINGS OF MALWA As both parties equally held that faith was not to be kept with infidels, neither has the slightest claim to a favourable construction ; but Bahadur could have had no immediate act of perfidy in view when he came on board unattended ; and as the object of the Portuguese must have been to seize and not to murder the king, it is unlikely that they would, if prepared for such a step, have allowed him to leave the ship. The affray, therefore, probably arose unintentionally, from the mutual alarm of the parties : if either was guilty of premeditated treachery, the greatest weight of suspicion rests on the Portuguese.22 Bahadur Shah's natural heir was his nephew Mahmud, the son of Latif Khan, who had formerly been his rival ; but that prince was a prisoner in the hands of his cousin by the mother's side, Miran Shah, king of Khandesh ; and the latter availed himself of the circumstance to claim the crown for himself. He, however, died a natural death within six weeks ; and as his brother who succeeded in Khandesh, though in possession of the same advan- tages, was not so fortunate in profiting by them, Mahmud was at length set at liberty, and allowed to take possession of his right. He took the title of Mahmud III., and had a reign of sixteen years, re- markable for nothing but the intrigues and factions of his chiefs. His death was attended with circumstances sufficiently out of the ordinary course ; he was assassinated by his domestic chaplain, whom he had at one time ordered to be built up to the neck in a wall and left to starve, and had released when nearly dead, on his attempting, even in that extremity, to bend his head to the king as he passed. The chaplain, after the murder, sent for the prin- cipal nobles, and put each privately to death as he appeared. He then assumed the crown ; but, as might have been expected, was put to death by the remaining officers the moment he presented himself in public. Mahmud III. built the castle of Surat, which still remains ; and likewise enclosed a park of fourteen miles in circumference with a wall, an unusual work in a country where deer a,nd game of all sorts are so abundant. A supposititious child was now set up by a party under the name of Ahmed II. He lived to grow up, and probably to have a will of his own, for he was assassinated after a reign of eight years. A similar pageant was next set up under the title of Mozaffer III., and the kingdom was partitioned among the leading conspirators. Dissensions broke out among them, and the country became a scene of continual war, confusion, and tumult, until finally settled by Akber, as will appear in his reign. Mdlwa FOUNDED BY DILAWAR, OF A FAMILY FROM GROH KINGS OF MALWA. Dilawar Gh6rl A.D. 1401 A.H. 804 A.D. A.H. Hiishang Gh6ri . 1405 808 Mohammed Gh6ri 1432 835 Mahmiid Khilji . 1435 839 A.D. A.H. Ghiyas ud din Khilji 1482 887 Nash- ud din Khilji 1500 906 Mahmud II. Khilji 1512 916 IT has been mentioned that Malwa became independent at the end of the reign of Sultan Firuz Tughlak. The first king was Dilawar Ghori, whose ancestors were natives of Ghor, and who claimed through his mother a connexion with the royal family of that country. His successor founded the capital, Mandu, remarkable for its situation on a rich table-land of thirty-seven miles' circumference, surrounded by rocky precipices, as well as for the magnificence of its buildings.23 He was engaged in those constant wars with Guzerat, which have already been related in the account of that kingdom. His successors were generally at peace with Guzerat ; but they had frontier wars with the king of Jounpur on the Jumna, and with the king of Khandesh on the Tapti. They had also wars with the Bahmani kings in Berar ; and they once laid siege to Bidar, =•' Sir J. Malcolm's Central India* vol< ** .29, 32 Sec a full and judicious examination of the accounts of both parties in a note on Colonel Briggs's Fcrishta, vol. iv. p. 132. 40. APPEND. FARlJKHI KINGS OF KHANDESH 747 the capital of the last-named monarch (A.D. 1401). One king, Mahmud I., besieged Delhi, and was defeated by Behliil Lodi, as has been related. The same prince began a series of wars with Kumbho Sing, the raja of Chitor, or Mewar ; but although they lasted upwards of fifteen years, involved other Hindu princes, and led to many battles and sieges, they made no material changes in the extent of the Mahometan territory. The reign of Mahmud II. was more fertile in events than all that preceded it, and deserves to be particularly noticed. Immediately on the accession of this prince he was engaged in a civil war with his brother, Sahib Khan, in which his success was principally owing to the support of a Rajput chief named Medni Rai, who joined him at the com- mencement with a considerable body of his tribe. The struggle was long and arduous, and was renewed, after an interval, with assistance to the pretender from the king of Delhi ; but the courage and talents of Medni Rai again prevailed. These long-continued services gave the Rajput chief a complete ascendency over his master, and threw the whole administration of the government into his hands. The superiority thus conferred on a Hindu excited universal discontent among the Mahometans, and led to the rebellion of several governors of provinces, who were crushed in succession by Medni Rai. By the results of these contests Medni Rai became all-powerful, removed every Mahometan from about the king's person, and filled the court and army with Rajputs. Mahmud at length became alarmed ; and, after an unsuccess- ful attempt to recover his authority, he felt that he was a prisoner in his own capital, and seized an opportunity of escaping to Guzerat. Mozaffer Shah, king of that country, came to his assistance. The war lasted for more than a year : Mandu, the capital, was taken after a desperate defence by the Rajputs ; and the king of Guzerat, having restored Mahmud to his authority, returned to his own dominions. Medni Rai had retired to Chanderi, of which place he was perhaps the hereditary chief. Mahmud marched against him, and found him strengthened by the alliance of Raja Sanga, who had come with the whole of his army to defend Chanderi. A battle ensued, in which Mahmud was defeated ; and as, although weak in other points, he was distinguished for his courage, he endeavoured to maintain the combat until he was covered with wounds, unhorsed, and made prisoner. The Rajput prince treated him with courtesy, and after a short interval released him. The mean spirit of Mahmud was incapable of imitating the magnanimity of his enemy. On the death of Sanga he thought to avail himself of the difficulties of a new reign by attacking Rattan Sing, the son of the late raja. Rattan Sing applied to Bahadur Shah, who had succeeded Mozaffer on the throne of Guzerat, and who had likewise reason to complain of the ingratitude of the king of Malwa. Mahmud, unable to withstand so powerful a con- federacy, saw his capital taken by Bahadur Shah, and was afterwards him- self made prisoner, when the kingdom of Malwa was permanently annexed to Guzerat. Khdndesh FOUNDED BY MALIK RAJA, A PERSON OF ARAB DESCENT FAR<5KHI KINGS- OP KHANDESII. Mfran Mobarik A.D. 1441 A.U. 844 A.I). A.H. A'dil Khan I. 1457 861 Malik Raja — — Baud Khan . 1503 DO!! Nasir Khan (lirst A'dil Khan II. 1510 916 king) . 1399 801 Mfran Mohammed Mirau A'dil Khan . 1437 841 Shah . 1520 926 Mfran Mobarik Mfran Moliuim I Klia.ii Raja AH Khan A.I). A.H . 1535 942 156G !>7I 1570 '.is I 1596 1005 THE kingdom of Khandesh was merely the lower part of the valley of tin- Tapti (the upper part being included in Berar) ; on the south it had the hills which support the table-land of the Deckan, and on the north the Injadri range. It was only separated from Guzerat by forests. It was a rich country, watered by innumerable streams. Its history is almost entirely comprised 748 in the small portion which its wars and alliances contributed to that of the neighbouring countries. The first prince who threw off his dependence on Delhi claimed a descent from the Calif O'mar. He was married to the daughter of the king of Cuzerat, from whom his son received the title of king, and to whom both he and his successors acknowledged a sort of subordination. There is nothing to mention in their domestic history, except the taking of the strong hill-fort of Asirghar by treachery from a Hindu chief, and the founding of the city of Burhanpur near that fortress. Burhanpur was made the capital. It is still a large city ; and the ruins of public edifices around it show it to have been formerly much more considerable. The whole of Khandesh, indeed, seems to have been in a high state of prosperity under its own kings : the numerous stone embankments by which the streams were rendered applicable to irrigation are equal to anything in India as works of industry and utility ; and, whether they were made by the Hindus or the kings of Khandesh, they must have been in use under the latter, though now in ruins and buried in woods. Khandesh was reannexed to Delhi by Akber, in A.D. 1599. Bengal A.I). A.H. ! Fakhr ud din 34 1338 739 I Ahmed Ala ud din . 1340 741 Nasir ud din llaji EMs (or Sha us Nasir ud din) 1342 743 Barbik . Secander 1357 759 Yusuf . Ghiyas ud din 1367 769 Fath . Sultan us Salatin 1374 775 Shahzadeh Shams ud din 11. 1383 785 Ffriiz . Raja Kans . 1386 788 Mahmud Jit Mai (or Jelal ud Mozaffer din) . . . 1392 795 Ala ud din II A.D. A.H. A.D. A.n. 1409 812 Nasrat . 1521 927 1426 830 Mahmud 1534 940 1426 830 Shir Shah 1537 945 1428 832 Sellm . 1545 952 1445 849 Adali . 1548 955 1461 866 Bahadur 1553 961 1481 886 Jelal ud din 1560 968 1481 886 Soleiman_Kir ani 1563 971 1493 899 Bayazid 1573 981 1494 900 Daiid . 1573 981 1497 904 THE kingdom of Bengal went on for upwards of two centuries after its revolt from Mohammed Tughlak, with frequent changes of dynasty, but without events worth recording. Among the usurpers was Raja Kans, a Hindu zemindar. His son embraced the Mahometan religion.25 This kingdom seems at one time to have comprehended North Behar. It included Sundergoiig (Dacca) : Jajnager (Tipera) was tributary : Assam was occasionally plundered : Cattak and the adjoining parts of Orissa were not acquired till just before the extinction of the state. It was conquered by Shir Shah, as has been related, and was in the hands of a revolted officer of one of his successors at the time of Akber's accession. Jounpur Khaja Jehan Mobarik A.D. 1394 1399 A.H. 796 802 Ibrahim Mahmud A.D. A.H. 1401 804 1440 844 Mohammed Husein . A.D. A.H. 1457 862 1457 862 KHAJA JEHAN, vazir at the time of Mahmud Tughlak's accession, seerns to have been unable to retain his ascendency during the minority, and to have retired to his government of Jounpur, and made himself independent. Four of his family followed him in succession, and carried on wars with the kings of Malwa and Delhi. They twice besieged the latter capital ; but, at length, their government was subverted, and their territory restored to Delhi by Behlul Lodi, in A.D. 1476. It was soon occupied by Baber after his conquest, and was taken by Shir 24 The early dates in this dynasty are un- certain. Ibn Batiita left Delhi in A.D. 1342, and found Fakhr ud din alive in Bengal at least a year or two after. 25 [In the Journal R.A.S., 1866, there is a very full account, by Mr. Thomas, of the khmrf of Bengal, as far as their reigns can be illustrated from their coins. — ED.] APPEND. SIND AND MULTAN 749 Shah ; and, after the fall of his dynasty, passed through different hands till conquered by Akber early in his reign. It stretched along the Ganges from Canouj, on the north-west, to the fron- tier between Bengal and South Behar on the south-east. Sind AFTER the expulsion of the Arabs ^ (A.D. 750), Sind, from Bakkar to the sea, remained in the hands of the Sumera Rajputs, until the end of the twelfth century ; when the reigning family became extinct, and the government, after some changes, fell into the hands of another Rajput tribe, called Sama. It is uncertain when the Sumeras first paid tribute to the Mahometans ; probably about the beginning of the twelfth century, under Shahab ud din Ghori, or his immediate successors. The early Samas seem to have been refractory, for one was invaded by Firuz Tughlak, as has been related (about A.D. 1361). The Samas were soon after converted to the Mahometan religion ; and kept the country till expelled by the Arghuns, who held it at Akber's accession. Multan MULTAN revolted during the confusion which followed the invasion of Tamer- lane. It fell into the hands of an Afghan family of the name of Langa, who held it for about a century. Early in the sixteenth century they were dispossessed by the Arghuns of Sind, who were, in their turn, expelled by Prince Camran, and Multan fell under the house of Timur. Of the other provinces once belonging to Delhi, it need only be said that they all became independent after the invasion of Tamerlane ; and although Behlul Lodi, Baber, Hurnayun, and Shir Shah had recovered many of them,, yet at Akber's accession (with the exception of the Panjab, the possession of which was contested by Secander Sur) they were all in the hands of adherents, of the Afghan government. 26 [In p. 340, it has been shown that the Arabs Karmathian heresy when they established their held Sind and Multan until towards the end of the power. The Samas appear to have expelled fourth century of the Hijra ; Sir H. Elliot (Arabs the Sumras about A.D. 1350 ; and they were in Sind) thinks that the Sumras embraced the conquered by the Arghuns in A.D. 1520. — ED. 3 a J — S S ° J 60 Sf 2 1 ^ J? A 3 p d i — l •S J w 5 Q r-5 1§ _•§ — 2 _® i — i . — .s a fl B ™- Vrt rl SI* i -|- V3 1 i 2 xS — •<-> o 3 "3 « a " 3 1 £ ^ o^ "3i ^ '5 p-i ^3 P £ 4) J* 02 ^^j w tf) -w hH H ~l~ -| a A 1 ^ 1 2 •"3 "2 >» **i "S — ™ fe 02 b ~'i "a" ct _-S_p1 5 H 0 a h >V T1 r£ HH s 'C8 V 3 S *S H 0 — ^~ 4) S a o 1 GQ g . J O2_~ — 9 — | — j ^ .5 ^4 o g -« O ^ hH i-H T3 a s ,3- -!-!_!_ rQ a _. 112 1 ' | •< X * 3 and Badakhsh^n). 1 Veis Khan. 1 ^j- ~| ^ O2 a ukh. j Humayun. 1 Akber. ft 1 -4 o |4 C 3 1 1 Shukoh. Shuja. ,n Shukoh. (Bahadur Shah, tih A'lam I.). pi f -J •d n 0 E^ &3 3 PQ .9 j "o i 02 02 ~^~ | N -2 "§ -u "3 .S -g Q S •S eg .So3 N ^ H 02 £ A ~ ?v* -& ^s • 02 ^ O o ^•d 1 M '- & ^^n p - I s M ~s -J P-l 3 02 -73 g ^ 4) a H §t) a • H Q C". O § 1 «O CO t- rH PH .^ -C9 *^ fO ra ~a OQ "^ ~ •O n .S M "® -« >4 "t§ ^ 45 S •^ es "% 43 « ~1~* 1 <*~i~l~~^ < j c ^« "3 c -* £ " v<5 5 £ w 02 INDEX ABD Abdalis, the Afghan tribe, 692. Lose Khorasan, 696. Nadir Shah gains their attachment, 696. Change of name to Durranis, 715 Abdullah, Seiad, supports Farokhsir, 666. His power, 667. His over- throw, 679 Abhi Sing, viceroy of Guzerat, 687. Procures the assassination of Pilaji, 688. Retires to Marwar, 688 Abubekr Tughlak, 404 Abul Fazl, murdered, 515. His office under Akber, 521 Abul Hasan, Sultan, 346 Abul Rashid, Sultan, 346 Abyssinianst of Jinjera, wars with the, 633, 705 Adali Mohammed, 450, 461 Adil Shah, his dynasty at Bijapur, 466, 736 Administration of justice in Menu, 28. Of government, modern, 66 Afghans, in India, 424, 432, 435, 499. The north-eastern, described, 504. Wars of Akber, 504-508. The, of Candahar — dethrone the Safavis, 691. The western, 691. The Ghil- jeis, and the Abdalis — revolt of the former, 692. Conquered by Nadir Shah, 696, 697. Their king, Ahmed Shah, 715 Afzal Khan sent against Sivaji, 606. Assassinated, 607. His army dis- persed, 607 Agra, occupation of, by Baber, 413. Recovered by Akber, 485. Shah Jehan proclaimed there, 562. Ad- vance on by Shuja, 580. Agricultural produce, 7 Agriculture, 180 Ahmedabad shuts its gates on Dara, 594 Ahmednagar, 466. Defence of, by Chand Sultana, 511. Taking of, 513. Recovered, 541. Attack on, defeated, 544. Khan Jehan ex- AKB polled, 565. Defeat of the king of, 565. Continued war with, 566. Murder of the king of, 567. At- tempted restoration of the king of, 568. Aurangzib at, 635, 653. Dy- nasty of Nizam Shah, at, 466, 738 Ahmed Khan (or Shah)Abdali, crowned, 715. Changes the name of his tribe, 715. His government, 715. His views on India, 716. Occupies the Panjab, 716. Repulsed, 716. Again invades the Panjab, 719. His governor treacherously seized, 721. His third invasion, 721. Takes Delhi, 722. Protects Alamgir II. against the vazir, 722. His fourth invasion, 725. Disperses the Maratta troops, 725. Negotiates with Shuja ud doula, 728. Marches against Sedasheo, 728. His passage of the Jumna, 728. His force, 729. De- stroys the Maratta army at Panipat, 733. Retires from India, 734 Ahmed Shah (the emperor), 717 Ahmeh Shah, of Guzerat, and his wars, 742 A jit Sing, raja of Marwar, 624, 661, 667 Ajmir, 2, 320, 354, 489 Akber, birth of, 443. State of India up to his accession, 463, 471. Ac- cession, 484. Defeats Hemu, 485. Assumes the government, 487. His plan for consolidating the Empire, 489. Rebellion of his officers, 489. Conquest of Guzerat, 496, 746. And of Bengal, 498. His troops mutiny, 499. Interferes in the disputes of the Deckan, 502. Moves to Attok, 502. Conquers Cashmir, 502. Wars with the north-eastern Afghans, 504. Destruction of the invading army, 506. Conquers Sind, 509. Re- covers Candahar, 510. His settle- ment of Hindostan, 510. His ex- pedition to the Deckan, 511. Peace agreed on, 512. War renewed, 512. Conquest of Khandesh, 513. Re- turns to Hindostan, 514. Refrac- 751 r52 INDEX AKB tory conduct of his eldest son, 514. Is reconciled, 516. Death of, 518. And character, 519. His internal policy, 520. Progress of his re- ligious opinions, 520. His religious and philosophical conferences, 523. His religious system, 524. His dis- couragement of Mahometan pecu- liarities, 525. His restrictions on Hindu superstition, 526. His gen- eral indulgence to Hindus, 526. Limited progress of his religion, 528. His civil government, and revenue system, 528. His reform and new model of the army, 533. His fortifications and public works, 534. His household and court, 535 Akber, Prince, joins the Rajputs, 625. Proclaimed Emperor, 626. Flies to the Marattas, 626, 633. Goes to Persia, 639 Alamgir. See Aurangzib Alamgir II. proclaimed, 720. Sus- pected by the vazir Ghazi ud din, 721. Entreats Ahmed Shah Dur- rani to protect him against the vazir, 722. Murdered, 725. Events after his death, 726-734 Ala ud din's invasion of the Deckan, 378. His accession, 382. Con- quests in the Deckan, 386. His death and character, 389, 390. Internal policy of, 390 Ala ud din Ghori, his sack of Ghazni, 348. His death, 349 Ala ud din Lodi, 413, 432 Ala ud din Masaud, 369 Ala ud din Seiad, 409 Algebra, 142 Alienations for military service, 81 Ali Hosein. See Hose in Ali Merdan Khan, his success against Balkh, 570 Alptegin, his rebellion, 311, 312. His death, 312 Altamish, 363. Death of, 367 Amber. See Jeipur Amber, Malik, 541, 544, 545, 550 Amercot, 443, 471 Amusement, in-door, of Hindus, 191 Andhra, kings of, 240. Kings in Magadha, 156 Angria, 682. Wars of Baji Rao with, 705 Animals of India, 9 Antiochus, 1 52 Appeals, in judicature, 29 Arabs, their superiority in war, 88. Conquests, 292. Of Sind, 299. Their expulsion, 304. Conquest of Transoxiana, 309 Aracan, flight of Shuja to, 597 AUR Aram, 363 Aravalli hills, their extent, 2 Arbitration, 29, 90 Architecture, 174. Mussulman, 480 Aristotle, resemblance of Hindu logic to the system of, 132 Arithmetic, 141 Army, how recruited and paid in Menu, 27. In modem times, 81, 88, 472. Reform of, by Akber, 533. The Maratta, compared with the Mogul, 643 Arslan, Sultan, 347 Arts, of life, in Menu, 51 Arts, fine, at present, 172 Asaf Khan, 551. Unites with Shah Jehan, 562. Imprisons the empress, 562. Defeats Shehriyar, 562 Asaf Jah (Chin Kilich Khan), 670, 676. Establishes his power in the Deckan, 677. Defeats the armies of the Seiads, 677. Hosein Ali marches against him, 678. Made vazir, 680. Sent against the refractory governor of Guzerat, 681. Quells the insur- rection, 681. Resigns his office, and goes to the Deckan, 681. His policy towards the Marattas, 682. Foments their dissensions, 685. Is attacked, and makes concessions, 685. Renewed intrigues of, 686. Is reconciled to the emperor, 689. Arrives at Delhi, and marches against Baji Rao, 690. Attacked by Baji Rao, 691. His treaty with Baji Rao, 691. Returns to the Deckan, 708. His death, 709 Ascetics, Hindu, 62, 255 Asiatic rivers, their banks, how in- habited, 1. Words, pronunciation of, Pref. Asoca (King), contemporary with Aii- tiochus, 152. His stupas, 282 Assam, expedition to, of Mir Jumla, 598 Assassination, by the Persians, of Nadir Shah, 714 Astronomy, 138. Originality of the Hindu, 143 Atheistical Sankhya School, 124. Its connection with Buddhism, 118 Atoms, doctrine of, 135 Attok, built by Akber, 500 Attorneys, 90 Aurangzib sent against the Uzbeks, 570. Besieged in Balkh, 571. His dis- astrous retreat, 571. Besieges Can- dahar, 572. War in the Deckan, 574. Intrigues at Golconda, 574. Treacherously attacks Heiderabad, 575. His character, 577. Cautious measures of, 579. Colludes with INDEX 753 AZA Mir Jumla, 579. Marches to join Morad, 580. Defeats the imperial army, 581. His victory over Dara, 582. Enters Agra, 584. Imprisons Morad, and assumes the government, 585. Marches from Delhi, HI id pursues Dara, 590. Treacherous attack on his baggage, 591. Defeats Shuja, 592. Wins over Jeswaiit Sing, 593. Attacks and defeats Dara, 593. His dangerous illness, 598. Forgives Sivaji, 606. Pros- perity of his empire, 614. Makes peace with Sivaji, 615. Schemes to entrap him, 616. Breaks the peace, 617. Wars against the north- eastern Afghans, 618. Returns to Delhi, 620. His bigotry, 620. Re- vives the poll-tax on infidels, 622. Treatment of the widow and children of Raja Jeswant Sing, 623. Marches against the Rajputs, 624. Devas- tates their territory, 625. And permanently alienates them, 625. His dangerous situation, 626. Ar- rives in the Deckan, 634. Advances to Ahrnednagar, 635. Invades Gol- conda, 636. Takes Bijapur, and destroys the monarchy, 637. Be- sieges and takes Golconda, 637. Imprisons Prince Moazzim, 638. Besieges Raighar, 640. Cantons on the Bima, 646. Releases Cam- bakhsh, 646. His resentment against his general Zulfikar, 647. His new plan of employing a be- sieging and pursuing army, 648. Takes Sattara, 648. His persever- ance, 649. His indefatigable indus- try, 650. Distrusts all around him, 650. Pressed by the Marattas, 653. Retreats to Ahmednagar, 653. De- clines in health, 654. His alarms at the approach of death, 654. His death and character, 655. His letters, 657. Miscellaneous trans- actions of his reign, 657. His successors, 659-734 Azam, Prince, his contest with Moazzim, 660 Azam Khan pursues Khan Jehan, 565 B Baber, invasion of India by, 411. Descent and early life, 414. His wars, 415. Driven from Trans- oxiana, 417. Acquires Cabul, 418. Discontent of his troops, 421. War with Sanga, 422. Victory at Sikri. 424. Victory in Bengal, 426. Death and character, 428-430 BEN Bactria, Greek kingdom of, 262-265 Badakhsfian, 420, 426, 458 Bahadur Shah (see Moazzim), 660. His proceedings in the Deckan, (illO. Transactions with the Rajputs, (Mil. War with the Sikhs, ' (i(i2. His death, (565 Bahadur Shah, of Guzerat, his war with Humayun, 433. Expels the Moguls, 434. His reign, 744. Disputes with the Portuguese, 745. His death, 746 Bahmani kingdom of the Deckan, 4(>5. States formed out of, 466. Its history, 735 Bairam Khan, 452, 453. His arbitrary government^ 486. His revolt, par- don, and death, 487, 488 Baji Rao, 684. Ravages Malwa, 685. Obtains a cession of the chout, 685. Kills Dabari, 686. Compromise with Asaf, 687. His successes in Mahva, 688. Appears before Delhi, and retreats, 690. Forces Asaf to a treaty, 691. His death, 704 Balaji Rao, character of, 706. Marches to Malwa, 707. Revives demands on Delhi, 707. Expels Raghuji, 708. Buys over Raghuji, 708. Possesses the government, 710. Marches against Salabat, 711. Re- called by insurrection, 711. Seizes Damaji, 711. Saved by a mutiny, 712. Intrigues against Salabat, 723. His death, 734 Balaji Wiswanath, 682. Establishes the government of Saho, 683. Dies, 683. His revenue system, 683 Balban vazir, 369. Becomes king, 371. Puts down the influence of slaves, 372. His death, 374 Balkh, 414, 420, 459. Reduced by Prince Morad and Ali Merdan Khan. 570. Overrun by the Uzbeks, 570. Aurangzib besieged there, 571 Banda leads the Sikhs, 664. Pursued by Bahadur, 664. Escapes, 665. Cruel execution of, 670 Banjaras, 87, 730 Barid Shah, dynasty of, at Bidar, 466, 740 Baroch plundered by Sambaji, 036 Bauddhas, religion of the, 111, 281 Begara Mahmud, 743 Behar, conquest of, 358, 425. Possessed by Shir Khan Sur, 436. Mutiny of Akber's troops in, 499 Behlul Lodi, 409 Behram, ,Moizz ud din, 369 Behram, Sultan, 347 Belal Rajas, 238 Bengal, conquest of, 357, 498. Revolt c c c 754 INDEX BER CHI of, 397, 402. Of Farokhsir in, 660. Defeat of the king of, 426. Conquest of, by Shir Khan, 436. Military features of, 437. Conquest of, by Akber, 498. Mutiny of Akber's troops in, 499. Insurrection of Afghans in, 500. Final settlement of, 500. Invaded by Raghuji, 707, 708. The chout of, obtained by Raghuji, 709 Berar, dynasty of Imad Shah in, 466, 740 Bernier, 584, 594 BJuzts, 209 Bhavani, 96 Bhoja, 229 Bidar, history of, 467, 740 Bhartpur, the Jats of, 652, 657, 681 Bijapur, 466. War with, 567. Be- sieged, 567. Failure of another attempt upon, 568. Peace effected, 568. Unprovoked war with, 575. Revolt against, by Sivaji, 605. Seizes Shahji Bosla as a hostage, 605. Makes peace with Sivaji, 608. Sivaji and Jei Sing co-operate against, 612. Failure of the attack on, 615. Tribute levied upon, by Sivaji, 615. Sivaji's conquests from, 629. Besieged by the Moguls, 631. Siege of, raised, 631. In- vaded unsuccessfully by Prince Azam, 636. Aurangzib moves against it, 637. The capital taken, and the monarchy destroyed, 637. Dynasty of Adil Shah at, 736 Bijayanagar, rise of the kingdom of, 398. League against, and fall of, 467, 739 Bikanir, 470 Bima, Aurangzib cantons on the, 646 Bopol, 691 Bosla, rise of the family of, 602 Bosla, Raghuji, 706, 709 Bosla, Shahji. See Shahji Bosla, Sivaji. See Sivaji Boundaries, disputes about, in Menu, 36 Brahma, 41, 95 Brahmanism and Buddhism, com- parison of the antiquity of, 117 Bramins, 14. Their occupations in Menu, 14, 17, 28, 56. At present, 59, 107 British possessions, extent and popula- tion, 3, 271 Buddha, 111. Date of his death, 120, 151 Buildings, magnificent, by Shah Jehan, 587. The Taj Mahal mausoleum, 587 Bundelcand, 471. Khan Jehan inter- cepted there, 566. Baji Rao obtains possessions in, 688 Bussy, M., 712 Buyadcs, dynasty of, 311, 332 C. Cabul acquired by Baber, 418. Its separation from India, 432. Affairs of, 458, 491, 500. The Rosheniyas in, 505, 546. Seized by Nadir Shah, 698 Cafur, intrigues of, 387 Califs, of Baghdad, 296, 309, 317. Dissolution of their empire, 371. Of Egypt, 400 Caligna, 240 Calinjer, 325. Shir Shah killed there, 447 Calusha, a court favourite, 633 Cambakhsh, entrusted with the siege of Jinji, 645. Restrained by Zulfikar, 646. Released, 646. His revolt, defeat, and death, 660 Camran, governor of Cabul, 431. Driven out by Humayun, 458. Surrenders, and is kindly treated, 459. Rebels again, 459. Defeats Humayun, 459. Again expelled, 460. Is blinded, 460. And dies, 461 Canarese language, 235 Candahar, 444. Taking of, 456. Ceded to the Persians, 457. Recovered by Humayun, 457. Recovery of, by Akber, 510. Taken by the Persians, 551. Recovery of, 569. Retaken by the Persians, 571. Aurangzib first, and then Dara, sent to recover it, 572. The siege against, raised, 572. Last attempt of the Moguls against, 573. Taken by Nadir Shah, 697 Canouj, kingdom of, 231, 363. Be- sieged by Mahmud, 324. Capture of, 356. Cape Comorin, 108 Carnata, 235, 238. Conquest of, 388. Recovered by the Hindus, 398, 464 Cashmir, conquest of, 502 Cast among the Hindus, 14, 20, 53. Changes in, 58, 254 Cattac ceded to Raghuji, 709 Chand Sultana, her defence of Ahmed- nagar, 511. Her death, 513 Chanderi taken, 424 Chalukyas, of Carnata, 239. Of Cal- inga, 240 Champanir taken, 434 Chandragupta, 151, 226 Charans, 209 Chengiz Khan, conquests under, 364 Chera, 237 Chin Kilich Khan. See Asaf Jah China, conquest of, attempted, 396 INDEX 755 CHI Chinese annals, 119, 156. Chinese travellers in India, 281 Chitor captured, 385. Recovered by the Rajputs, 389. Taken by Shir Shah, 447. By Akbcr, 495 Chola, 237 Ghout, the, first levied by Sivaji, 617, G71. Of Guzerat, 685. Of Bengal, obtained by Raghuji, 709 Chronology of the Hindus, 148 Chunar, siege of, 437 Church, 474 Civil Law, Hindu, 33, 89. Mahometan, 473 Civilisation, Hindu, 49, 186 Climate, Indian, 4 Coasting trade, 183 Coins, Bactrian, 263 Coinage, 359, 479 Colapur, 685 Commerce, 181 Common Law of India, 90, 473 Community, village, 71, 75, 258 Concan, 238. The northern, taken by Sivaji, 605. Destruction of Moaz- zim's army in, 634. Wars in Baji Rao's time, 705 Confederacy, Hindu, defeated, 313, 321, 356 Conquests, Arab, 292. Conquest of Persia, 296. Of Sind by the Arabs, 298. Of Transoxiana, 309. Of Ghor, 322. Of Persia by Mahmud, 332. Of Ghazni, 348. Of Ajmir, 356. Of Delhi, 356. Of Oudh, Behar, and Bengal, 357. Of Car- nata, 388. Of Maaber, 388. Of Maharashtra, 389. Of Malabar, 393. Of Telingana, 394. Of China, at- tempted, 396. Of Guzerat, 382, 496. Of Bengal, 357, 498. Of Cashmir, 502. Of Sind, 510. Of Khandesh, 513, 748. Of Persia by the Ghiljeis, 693. Of Hindostan, Maratta plan for, 724 Contracts, 35 Conversions of Hindus, 476 Converts, Mogul, massacred, 389 Copper money, 397 Coromandel coast, rebellion of, 397. Conquests on, 740 Court of the Hindu government, 25, 261. Of Akber, 535 Creation, Hindu idea of, 4 1 Criminal law, 29 Crishna, 99 Cshatriyas, 17, 58 D Dabari, in Guzerat, 671, 686. Marches to depose the peshwa, 686. Antici- DBt pated by Baji Rao, defeated, and killed, 686 Damaji Geikwar, 7. System of war, 26, 84. More hu- mane than the Mahometan, S5. Changes in the law, 89. Religion. observations upon present state of, and philosophy, 91, 122. Astro- nomy and mathematical science, 138. Science, originality of, 143. Geography, 145. Chronology, 148. Language, 160. Literature, 163. 758 INDEX HIO ISL Arts, 172, 179. Agriculture, 180. Commerce, 181. Settlements, in Java, etc., 184. Character in an- cient and modern times, 220. His- tory of, up to the Mahometan invasion, 223. State of, at the Mahometan invasion, 305, 354. Kingdoms, restoration of, in Telin- gana and Carnata, 398, 464. In creased intercourse with, by the Mussulmans, 380, 465, 482. Con- versions of, 476. Superstition of, Akber's restrictions on, 526. But general indulgence to, 493, 526. Vexatiously treated by Aurangzib, 621. General disaffection of, 622 Hiouen Thsang, his account of India, 282-291 Holcar, origin of this Maratta family, 687 Hosein Ali, 666, 667. Sent against the raja of Mar war. 667. Makes peace, 668. Marches to settle the Deckan, 668. His ill success, 671. Makes peace with Raja Saho, and submits to pay the chout, 671. Returns with 10,000 Marattas, 672. Marches against Asaf Jah, 678. Assassi- nated, 678 Household of Akber, 535 Houses, Hindu, 192 Humayun, first reign of, 431. Dis- putes with the King of Guzerat, 433, 745. Marches against Shir Khan, 436. Takes Gour, 438. Retreats, 438. Intercepted, 439. His army surprised and dispersed, 439. His second campaign, 440. Defeat and flight, 441. Arrives at Lahore, 441. Fails in attempting Sind, 441. Seeks refuge in Jodpur, 442. But is re- fused, 442. His horrible march through the desert, 442. Hospit- ably received at Amercoat, 443. Second attempt on Sind, 443. Re- tires to Candahar, 444. His dangers, 444. Flies to Persia, 444. Recep- tion of, in Persia, 452. Professes the Shia religion, 453. Recovers Candahar, 457. Takes Cabul, 458. Accepts Camran's surrender, 459. Invades Balkh, 459. Defeated, 459. Blinds Camran, 460. Marches to recover India, 461. Defeats Secan- der Sur, 462. Takes Delhi and Agra, 462. Death of, 462 Husband and wife, Hindu law, 36 Ibrahim Lodi, 410. Defeat and death of, 412 Ibrahim, Sultan, 346. Ibrahim, king of Golconda, 740. His wars and conquests, 740 Ilak Khan, 315. His invasion and defeat, 319 Imad Shah, his dynasty in Berar, 740 Imports, 186 India, its extent and population, 1-4. Climate and seasons, 4. Natural productions of, 5. Animals, 9. Minerals, 10. Languages of, 160. Scythian settlers in, 249. Greek accounts of, 250. Manners and customs unaltered since the Greeks, 259. Chinese accounts of, 281. Slow progress of Mahometans in, its cause, 305. Expeditions of Madmud to, 318-331. Government of, re- lation of different nations to, 341. Foundation of Mahometan empire in, 345, 352. First expedition to, under Shahab ud din, 352. Shahab ud din's conquest in India, 356, 359. Independence of, under the Slaves, 362. The Mahometan territory, when greatest, 401, 638. Invaded by Tamerlane, 405. Invaded by Baber, 411. Cabul separated from, for a time, 432, 491. State of, at Akber's accession, 463-483. Inde- pendent states of, 463, 465, 467. Internal state of, after the Maho- metan conquest, 471. Towns and commerce of, 477. State of the country in 14th and 15th centuries, 477. Akber's government of, 528. Its state at Jehangir's accession, 539. Its prosperity under Shah Je^ian, 585. Invaded by Nadir Shah, 699. By Ahmed Durrani, 721, 725 Indian words, pronunciation of, Pref. x. Difference of Indian nations, 186. Indians, west of the Indus, 251. Character, opinion of the Greeks respecting, 261 Indus, 1, 250. Country west of, ceded to Nadir Shah, 702 Infidels, poll-tax on. See Jizya Inhabitants, classes of, in villages, 71 Inheritance, law of, 37 Inland trade, 186 Insubordination of Akber's officers, 489 Insurrections under Mohammed Tugh- lak, 397. Afghan, 425, 432. Af- ghan, in Bengal, 500. In Guzerat. 501. Of Prince Khusrou, in Cabul, quelled, 540. Of the Satnarami religionists, 620 Intellectual creation, Sankhya theory of, 125 Interest of money, 35 Islands, eastern, of India, 184 INDEX 759 JAI Jainas, religion of, 115, 121 Jats, the, 249. Insurrection of, (i.VJ. 657. Expedition against, (581 Java, Hindu settlements in, 184 Jehandar Shah, his accession, 665. His incapacity, 665. Betrayed and put to death, 666 Jehangir, refractory conduct of, 514. The title of, assumed by Selim, as emperor, 539. His son Khusrou flies the court, rebels, and is im- prisoned, 540. Punishes the rebels, 540. Unsuccessfully invades the Deckan, 541. Recovers Ahmed- nagar, and marries Nur Jehan, 541. Attacks Ahmednagar, but is de- feated, 544. Successfully wars with Mewar, 545. Quells an insurrection at Cabul, 546. Sir T. Roe's account of his court, character, and empire, 546. The emperor moves to Mandu, Sir T. Roe's description of his march, 549. Resides in Guzerat, 550. Quells disturbances in the Deckan, 550. His increased distrust of Shah Jehan (heir-apparent), 552. Ad- vances against Shah Jehan, 552. Marches against the Rosheniyas in Cabul, 553. His cruel treatment of Mohabat's son-in-law, 555, His person seized by Mohabat, 555. Is joined by the empress in his capti- vity, 557. His artifices to regain liberty, 558. Is rescued by the aid of the empress, 559. His sick- ness and death, 560. See Selim Jeipal, raja, his invasion and repulse, 313, 318 Jeipur, 470, 494, 624, 659 Jei Sing, 580. Deserts Soleiman, 590. Sent against Sivaji, 611. With whom he co-operates, 612. Failure of his attack on Bijapur, 615. His death, 615. Jei Sing II., viceroy of Malwa, 688 Jelal ud din Khilji, mild government of, 377. Assassinated, 380 Jesalmer, 470 Jeswant Sing defeated, 58 1 . Treacher- ously attacks the baggage of Aurang- zib, 591. Threatens Agra, and flies to Marwar, 592. Is won over by Aurangzib, 593. Abandons Dara, 593. Returns with Prince Moazzim to replace Jei Sing, 615. His death, 623. His widow and children op- pressed by Aurangzib, 623. They escape from Delhi, 623 KUT Jinjera, failure of Sambaji at, 633. Wars with the Abyssinians of, 705 Jinji, taken by Sivaji, 630. Raja Ram's escape to, 641. Zulfikar Khan sent to reduce, 641. Its siege committed to Prince Cambakhsh, 645. The siege obstructed by Zulli- kar, 645. Santaji Gorpara advances to raise the siege, 645. Retreats, 646. The siege renewed, but opera- tions protracted, 647. Taken by Zulfikar, 647 Jizya, or poll-tax on infidels, 302. Abolished by Akber, 526. Revived, 622. Abolished, 674 Jodpur, 470. See Marwar Jones', Sir W., Indian orthography, Pref. ix. Jounpur, 409, 468. Kingdom of, 748 Judicial Officers in Menu, 28. Under the Mahometans, 473. Under Ak- ber, 532 Jumla, Mir. See Mir Jumla Jun, 443, 594 Justice, administration of, in Menu, 28. Mahometan, 473, 532 K Kei Kobad, 374 Kerala, 237 Khdndesh, 405, 513, 747 Khan Jehan Lodi, his history, 563. His flight from Agra, 564. His pro- ceedings in the Deckan, 564. The emperor marches against him, 564. Is driven out of Ahmednagar, 565. Pursued by Azam Khan, flies from the Deckan, 565. Is killed, 566 Kliarizm, kingdom of, 350. Unsuc- cessful invasion of, 358. King of, pursued into India, 365 Khizr Khan, Seiad, 408 Khorasan, 309, 317, 695 Khurram, Prince. See Shah Jehan Khusrou, Sultan, his retreat to Lahor, 349. Conquered, 353 Khusrou, Amir, the poet, 372, 375, 387 Khusrou, the slave, 392 Khusrou, Prince, 516. His flight, rebellion, and seizure, 540. His imprisonment, 540. Description of him by Sir T. Roe, 549. His sus- picious death, 551 Knowledge, purpose of, and means of attaining, among Hindus, 124 Kuli Kutb, or Kutb Shah, founder of the dynasty in Golconda, 467, 7!W. Professes the Shia religion, 739. Extent of his kingdom, 739. His tory of the dynasty, 739, 740 Kutb ud din Eibak, 362 760 INDEX LAH Lahor, the raja of, his invasion, 313 Land, grants of, by government, 75, 81, 290. Property in, 78. Tenure of, 73 Land Revenue, 24, 76, 530. How annually settled, 77. Under Akber's settlement, 529 Landholders, village, 71. Their rights and status, 72. And tenants, 73 Lands alienated for military service, 81. Among the Rajputs, 82, 270, 362. For services not military, 83, 290. Held free of service, 83. Tributary, and other dependent territories, 84 Languages of the Hindus, 160. Of the Indian Mahometans, 482 Law, 29. Criminal, 29, 90. Civil, 33, 89. Of evidence, 33. Changes in the written, 89. Local, 91. Under Mahometan government, 473. Ma- hometan and Common, 473 Letters of the emperor Aurangzib, 656 Literature, Hindu, 163. Mahometan, 482 Liturgy, Hindu, its character, 109 Lodi, rise of the family of, 409. Behlul Lodi, 409. Secander, his good ad- ministration, 409. His bigotry, 410. Ibrahim, his defeat, and death, 412. Khan Jehan Lodi, 563 Logical Schools, 132. Their resem- blance to Aristotle, 132 Lunar Races, 149, 224 M Maaber, conquest of, 388 Magadha, kings of, 150, 226 Maha Bharata, 99, 169, 226. Date of the war of, 155, 225 Maharashtra country, 242. See Ma- rattas Mahometans, first invade India, 298. Causes of their slow progress in India, 305. Their intercourse with the Hindus, 345, 380, 465, 482 Mahometan religion, 292. Empire in India, foundation of, 352. Territory in India, when greatest, 401, 638. Empire, internal state of the, 471. Law, 473. Literature, 482. Pecu- liarities discouraged by Akber, 525. Confederacy, 724 Mahmud Begara, vigorous government of, in Guzerat, 743. Co-operates with the Mamluks of Egypt, in a naval war with the Portuguese, 743 Mahmud Ghori, 360 MAK Mahmud Sultan, 316. Disputed suc- cession of, 316. Declares his inde- pendence, 317. His expeditions to India, 318, 320, 323, 324, 325, 326, 336. Defeats the Tartars, 320. Decisive battle, 320. His capture of Tanesar, 323. Conquest of Trans- oxiana, 323. Permanent occupa- tion of the Pan jab, 326. Sets up a raja in Guzerat, 329. His conquest of Persia, 332. His death, and character, 333. His court and army, 338 Mahmud Tughlak, 405 Mai, Todar. See Todar Malabar, 237, 392 Malik Amber, his talents as minister, 541. Retakes Ahmednagar, 541. Defeats a combined attack, 544. Renews disturbances in the Deckan, 550. Is defeated, and makes terms, 550. Unites with Shah Jehan in rebellion, 553. His death, 560 Malik, Sultan Khusrou, 349, 353 Malwa, 229, 288, 366. Revolt of, 405. War in, 489. Baji Rao's successes in, 689. Balaji marches to, 707. Formal cession of, by Mohammed Shah, 708. History of the kings of, 746 Mamluks of Egypt, 743 Marattas, the, 236, 242, 287, 600, 737, 738. Weakness of, 640. System of their defence, 641. War by, 642. Their armies compared with the Moguls, 643. Dissensions among the, 647. Their successes, 652. Press hardly upon the grand army, 653. Their state in Bahadur's reign, 660. A truce made with, 661. Progress of, 670. Policy of Asaf Jah towards them, 682. Consolidation of their government, 682. Their dissensions fomented by Asaf, 685. A great Maratta chief, Dabari, (586. Maratta families, their origin, 687. Their retaliation on the assassination of Piliji Geikwar, 688. Malwa tacit- ly surrendered to them by Jei Sing II., 689. Proceedings of, 704. In- vaded by Salabat, and a French subsidiary force, 711. Aid in sub- duing the Rohillas, 718. Their aid sought by Ghazi ud din, 722. Plans of, for the conquest of Hindostan, 724. Invade Rohilcand, 724. Their troops in Hindostan dispersed, 725. Power of, at its zenith, 726. Retire to Panipat, and intrench their camp, 729. Their numbers, 729. Failure of their supplies, 730. Military character of, 730. Battle of Panipat, INDEX 761 MAR 731. The destruction of their army, 733. Their despondency, 734 Marriage, Hindu law of, 36. Cere- monies, 202 Marwar, 470. Invasion of, 447, 494, 624. Flight of Jeswant Sing to, 592. Treaty with, 661. Raja of, Hosein Ali sent against the, 667 Masaud, Sultan, 343. His wars with the Seljuks, 344. Deposition and death, 345 Massacre of Mogul mercenaries, 374. Of Mogul converts, 38«t. Timur's in Delhi, 406. Shir Shah's in Raisin, 446. By the Persians, 700 Master and Servant, Law of, 35 Maudud, Sultan, 346 Medicine, 158 Menu, laws of, 12. Religion of, 41. State of Hindus, at the time of, 49. Since, 91. The age of, 13, 245 Merdan Khan, Ali, 569, 570 Metaphysical opinions of Hindus, 122 Mewar, 469. Sanga, rana of, 422. War in, 541, 545. Rana of, makes favourable terms with Aurangzib, 624. Breaks the peace, 624. Wars with, 743 Military service, lands taken for, 81. Among the Rajputs, 82. Estab- lishment of Akber, 532. Reform and new model of his army, 533. Works and fortifications by Akber, 534. Spirit, decline of, 548, 643 Minerals, 10 Ministers, the King's, 22, 472 Mirzas, their revolt, 492. They fly to Guzerat, 493 Mir Jumla, prime minister, 574. Colludes with Aurangzib, 579. At- tacks Shuja, 506. His expedition to Assam, 598. Death of, 598 Mixture of classes, 20, 60 Moazzim, Prince, sent against Sivaji, 611, 615. Destruction of his army in the Concan, 635. His invasion of Bijapur, 635. Imprisoned by Aurangzib, 638. His contest with his brother, 660. His victory, 660. Assumes the crown with the title of Bahadur Shah, 660. See Bahadur, ante Mobarik, Seiad, 408 Mobarik Khilji, 391. Murder of, 392 Mobariz, governor of Heiderabad, sent to supplant Asaf Jah, 681. De- feated and slain, 682 Moguls, their conquests, 307, 364. Irruption into the Panjab, 364. Irruption, 373. Massacre of Mogul mercenaries, 374. And of converts, MON 389. Incursions, 383. Serious in- vasion by, 383. Unsuccessful, 386. Discontinuance of their incursions, 386. Troops rebel in Guzerat, 399. Why Indian Mussulmans called so, 415. Baber's opinion of, 382, 415. Provinces, plundered by Sivaji, 610. Ravages in, 617. Defeated in a field action by Sivaji, 618. Again invaded by Sivaji, 629. Invade Golconda, 630. Sambaji deserts to the, 631. Besiege Bijapur, 631. Comparison of the Maratta army with that of the, 643. Change in their system of war, 648. Their exhaustion, 648. Extinction of Mo- gul empire, 734 Mohabat Khan, called to court by the empress, 552. Chases the rebellious Shah Jehan, 552, 553. Persecuted by the empress, 554. His history, 554. Is summoned to court, 554. His son-in-law brutally treated by Jehangir, 555. Seizes on the em- peror's person, 555. His camp attacked unsuccessfully by the em- press, 556. Insecurity of his power, 558. Terms granted to him, 573. Joins Shah Jehan against the emperor, 559. Receives the Deckan, on Shah Jehan's accession to the throne, 563 Mohammed Adil, or Adali, murders his nephew, and usurps the throne, 450. His vices, and incapacity, 450. His defeat and death, 452 Mohammed Amin Khan, 677, 679 Mohammed Ghori, 358. See Shahab ud din Mohammed Shah, accession, 674. Pru- dence of, 677. His plans against the Seiads, 678. Assumes the gov- ernment, 678. Rapid decline of his monarchy, 680. His indolence, his favourites, and prejudices, 680. Instigates the governor of Heidera- bad to supplant Asaf Jah, 681. Is reconciled to him, 689. Refuses to ratify Asaf's concessions, 704. Defeated by Nadir, 699. Restored, 702. Purchases aid, by concession, 708. Marches against the Rohillas, 713. His death, 717 Mohammed, Seiad, 408 Mohammed Tughlak, 395. \YiM schemes of, 396. Death, 399. He bellions in his reign, 397. States formed on the dissolution of the empire under, 463 Moi'.-z ud din Behram, 369 Monastic orders, 61. Their ascend- ency, 110 762 INDEX MON PER Money, paper, introduction of, 396. ! See Coinage Monotheism, 41, 272, 277 Moon, race of the, 149, 224 Morad, Prince, reduces Balkh, 570. j Is disgraced, 570. His character, 578. His rebellion, 579. Deceived by Aurangzib, 580. With Aurang- zib, defeats the imperial army, 581. Dismissed by Aurangzib, 585. Im- prisoned, 585. And murdered, 597 Moulavis, 474 Mountaineers, 210 Mozaffer Shah, king of Guzerat, his history, 741 Multan, 298, 319 Music, 172 Mutiny of Akber's troops in Bengal and Behar, 499. Balaji saved by a, 712 Mysore, 630 N Nadir Shah. His rise, 695. Drives out the Ghiljeis, and recovers Khorasan from the Abdalis, 695. Takes Herat, 696. Gains the at- tachment of the Abdalis, 696. Deposes Tahmasp Shah, 696. Is elected king, 697. Suppresses the Shia religion, 715. Invades the Ghiljeis, 697. His conciliatory po- licy, 698. Invades India, 699. De- feats Mohammed Shah, 699. Ad- vances to Delhi, 700. Orders a massacre by the Persians, 700. His extortions, 701. His rapacity and violence, 701. The country west of the Indus ceded to him, 719. Restores Mohammed Shah to his throne, 701. Amount of treasures carried off by, 702. His tyranny, 713. His fears of the Shias, 713. Puts out his son's eyes, 713. His cruelties, 714. Favours the Af- ghans, 714. Is assassinated by the Persians, 714 Nagarcot, Temple of, 321 Najib ud Doula, minister, 722. His escape, 723. His league with Shuja ud Doula, 724 Names, Hindu, 204 Nanak, 662 Nando1 s reign, date of, 151, 155, 226 Nasir ud din Mahmud, 369 Nasir ud din Tughlak, 404 Nasir Jang, repulses Baji Rao, 704. Revolts, 709 Nations, Tartar, 306 Naval war with Portuguese, 705, 743 Nerbadda, the, fixed as the limit of the Mogul provinces, 1. Crossed by Sivaji, 629 Nidhi, the Pirti, 682, 684 Nizam Shah, dynasty of, 466, 738 Nur JeJian, her marriage, and romantic history, 542. Her influence, 543. Supports Shah Jehan, 545. Is alien- ated from him, 551. Calls to court Mohabat, 552. Distrusts and per- secutes Mohabat, 554. Her spirited conduct, 556. Attacks Mohabat's camp, 556. Is repulsed, 557. Joins the emperor in his confinement, 557. Her plots and preparations, 559. Rescues her husband, 559. Her devotion to him, imprisonment, and death, 562 O Observances, ritual, Hindu, 43 Opinions, metaphysical, 122. Religi- ous, of Akber, 524 Orders, Monastic, 61, 110 Origin of the Hindus, 53, 278. Of village communities, 75 Orissa, or Uriya country, 162, 236, 240, 463, 709 Oudh, 224, 357, 464, 491, 678, 718 Oudipur. See Mewar Ownership, sale without, Hindu law of, 35 Painting, Hindu, 173 Pandya, 236 Panipat, battles of, 412, 452, 731 Punjab, the, 2, 232, 258. Ranjit Sing's possessions in, extent and population of, 3. Permanently oc- cupied by Mahmud, 326. Expulsion of the Ghazni house from, 353. Mogul irruption into the, 373. Re- annexed to Delhi, 409. Revolt of, 451. Campaign in the, 485. In- vaded by Hakim, 492. Occupied by Ahmed Khan, 716. Cession of, 719. The Governor of, treacherously seized, 721. Seized by Ragoba, 723. Fourth invasion of Ahmed Shah, 725 Paper money, introduced in Persia, 396 Party, ascendency at court of a Hindu, 392 Parviz, Prince, elder brother of Shall Jehan, 549. Reprimanded, 551. Chases his rebellious brother, 552, 554 Pastorals, Hindu, 171 Persecution of the Sikhs, by the Ma- hometans, 670 INDEX 763 PER Persia, conquest of, by the Arabs, 296. Conquered by Mahmud, 332, 340. Projected conquest of, by Moham- med Tughlak, 396. Reception of Humayun in, 452. Candahar ceded to, 456. Takes Candahar, 551. Loses it, 569. Retakes it, 571. Transactions in, 691. Conquered by the Ghiljeis, 693. Reign of Nadir Shah in, 697, 713 Philosophy of the Hindus, 122 Pilaji Oeikwar, assassinated, 687 Pilgrims, Chinese, in India, 281 Pilgrimages, Hindu, 195 Pirti nidhi, the, 682, 684 Poetry of the Hindus, 163. Dramatic 163. Sacred, 168. Heroic, 169. Descriptive, 166, 171. Pastoral, 171 Police establishments of Akber, 532, 533 Pomp of the rich Hindus, 193 Population of India, 3, 4, 27 1 Portuguese, wars with the, 705, 738, 744 Prince Sultan, his operations against Shuja, 592, 596. Goes over to Shuja, 596. Returns to his alle- giance, and is imprisoned, 596. Released, 619 Princess Dewal Devi, story of, 386 Productions of India, 5, 7 Property in the soil, 78 Puar, origin of the family, 687 Puna occupied by Shayista Khan, 610. Sivaji's night exploit there, 610 Punishment of rebels, 540 Puranas, 93, 156 Pythagoras, similarity of Hindu doc- trines to the School of, 135 R Races, solar and lunar, 149, 224 Raft ud Darajat, 674 Raft ud Doula, 674 Ragoba, 704, 723 Raighar, coronation of Sivaji at, 629. Besieged and taken, 640 Rain in India, 5. Double that of England, 5 Raisin, massacre of the garrison of, 446 Rajamandri, 380. Conquest of, 736 Raghuji Bosla, his character and power, 706. Intrigues against Balaji, 706. Invades Bengal, 707. Defeated by Balaji, 708. Bought over by Balaji's cessions, 708. Again in- vades Bengal, 708. His general murdered by the viceroy, 708. Obtains the chout of Bengal, and a cession of Cattac, 709 ROE Rajputs, feudal system among, 80, 270. Descent of, 58, 248. Kingdoms of, in Shahab ud din's time, 354. Recover Chitor, 389. State of, at Akber's accession, 469. Akber's treatment of, 493. Their services in the Hindu Gush mountains, 570. Combination of, 624. Pursued by Aurangzib, 625. Devastation of their territory, 625. Permanently alienated, 625. Joined by Prince Akber and his army, 625. Pro- tracted war with, 627. Transactions with, by Bahadur, 661. Peace with, 662 Rama, the Hindu god, 98. Expedition of, 224 Ram, Raja, his regency, 640. Escapes to Jinji, 641. Proclaimed raja, 641. Takes the field in person, and dies, 648 Ramayana, 1 69. Antiquity of the, 224 Rashid Sultan Abul, 346 Rebellion of Alptegin, 311. Against Rezia, 368. Against Ala ud din, 384. Against Mohammed Tughlak, 397. Against Ibrahim, 411. Against Adali, 451. Of Akber's officers, 489. Of Prince Khusrou, 540. Of Shah Jehan, 552. Of Shuja, 579 Reforms under Akber, 528-533. Of the army, 533 Religion, Hindu, 40, 91, 102. Of Menu, 41. Of the Bauddhas and Jainas, 111. Comparative antiquity of the Hindu religious sects, 117. Rise of the Mahometan, 292. Limited progress of Akber's, 528. Shia and Sunni, 453. Shia suppressed by Nadir, 697. Shia, attempt to intro- duce the, in the Deckan, 737 Religious system of Akber, 524. His conferences, 523 Restrictions on Hindu superstition by Akber, 526 Retreat, calamitous, from Balkh, 571 Revenue, 23, 76, 80, 259. Divisions. 66. Public land, 76. Special ex- emptions from, 76. Evil of farming. 78. System, notes on tin1, 2(>r». System of Akber, 528. Complicated system of, by Balaji, 683 R&zia, Sultana, her virtues, 367. De- feated and put to death, 368 Rich Hindus, entertainments and pomp of, 193 Ritual, Hindu, 109 Roe, Sir T., his embassy from Jamos I .. 546. Describes the empire, court, and character of Jehangir, 546. And Jehangir's march to Mniidu. 549 764 INDEX ROH SEL Rohilcand, invaded by the Marattas, 724 Rohillaa, rise of the, 712. The em- peror inarches against, 713. At- tempted subjugation of, 718. De- feat Safder Jang, 736. Submit to the Marattas, 718. Join Ahmed Shah, 728 Rosheniyas, sect of, 505. Marched against, in Cabul, 554 Rukn ud din, 367 Russian wars with the Afghans, 695 Ryots, 73, 268 S Saad Ullah Khan, his death, and character as minister, 574 Sabuktigin, a slave and successor to Alptegin, 312. Defeats Jeipal, 322. His death, 314 Sack of Delhi, 406, 700, 722 Sadat Khan, 678, 689, 699 Safavi family, 420, 453. Its corrup- tion and decay, 691. Dethroned by the Afghans of Candahar, 691, 694, 696 Safder Jang attempts to subjugate the Rohillas, 718. Marches against them and is defeated, 718. Dis- content of, 719. Is resisted by Asaf Jah's grandson, and expelled, 720. His death, 720 Saho, Sambaji's son, 640. His faction, 660. His government established, 683. His character, 684. Accom- modation between him and his rival, Samba, 686. Death of, 709 Salabat Jang, march of Balaji against, 711. Advances on Puna, 711. Mutiny in his army, 712 Sales, law of, 35 Salivahana, era of, 158 Samani, house of, 310 Samba, 682, 685, 709 Sambaji (Sivaji's son), deserts for a time to the Moguls, 631. Unsuccess- ful attempt to set him aside, 632. Is acknowledged raja, 632. Joined by Prince Akber, 633. Gives himself up to a favourite, 633. Decline of his affairs in the Deckan, 634. Plunders Baroch, 636. Inactivity of, 639. Made prisoner and put to death, 639, 640 Sandracottus, 151, 227 Sanga, rana of Mewar, 422, 744, 747 Sankhya school, 124 Sanscrit, language, 160, 278. Hipuen Thsang's account of, 291. Feizi's translations from the, 521 Santaji Oorpara, 642. Advances to raise the siege of Jinji, 645. Mur- dered, 647 Satire, Hindu, 172. Mahometan, 483 Satis, 50, 205 Satnaramis, religionists, their insurrec- tion, 620 Sattara, 648, 706 Scenery, Hindu descriptions of, 166 Schools of philosophy, 122. Sankhya, 124. Vedarita, 129. Logical, 132. Greek, resemblance to the Hindu, 135 Science, Hindu, its originality, 137, 143 Sculpture, 173 Scythian settlers in India, 249 Seasons, Indian, 4 Secander Lodi, his good administration, 409. His bigotry, 410 Secander Sur, revolt under, 451. De- feated by Humayun, 462. His submission, 485 Sects, 106, 476. Rivalry of the Shia and Sunni in the court and army, 465, 737. Of the Rosheniyas, 505 Sedasheo Bhao, 711. Arrogance of this commander, 727. Takes Delhi, 727. Ahmed Shah marches against, 728. His supposed death in battle, 733 Seiads, house of, 408 Seiads : Khizr Khan, 408. Mobarik, 408. Mohammed, 408. Ala ud din, 409. Abdullah, 666. Hosein AH, 666. The origin of their name, 667. Their government, 668. Set up nominal emperors, 674. General indignation against, 676. Internal dissensions of their party, 676. Armies of, defeated by Asaf Jah, 677. Plans of Mohammed Shah against, 677. Their fate, 678 Seif ud din Ghori, 351 Seleucus, contemporary with Chandra- gupta, 151 Selim Shah Sur supplants his elder brother, 448. Quells an obstinate rebellion, 449. Dies, 449 Selim (Akber's eldest son), his refrac- tory conduct, 514. Instigates the murder of Abul Fazl, 515. Is recon- ciled to Akber, 516. His continued misconduct, 516. Is placed under restraint, but soon released, 516. Quarrels with his son Khusrou, 516. Intrigues regarding the succession, 517. Unsuccessful combination to set him aside, 518. Succeeds his father, by the title of Jehangir, 539. See Jehangir Seljuks, revolt of, 332. . Suppressed, 332. Rise of, 343. Their wars, 344. Take Ghazni, 350. Their fall, 350 INDEX 765 8KB Servant and master, law of, 35 Services, lands taken for military, 81. And other, 83 Shahab ud din founds his Mahometan empire in India, 352. His first expedition, 352. Defeat of, 355. His return to India, 355. His death, 359. Extent of his conquests in India, 359 Shah Jchan (Prince Khurram), his victories and moderation, 545. Coun- tenanced by the Empress, 545. Becomes unpopular, 549. Declared heir-apparent, and sent to settle the Deckan, 549. His success, 549. Marches to quell disturbance in the Deckan, 550. His success, 550. Is disliked by the Empress, 551. Ordered to retake Candahar, 551. Remonstrates, 552. His troops transferred to Prince Shehriyar, 552. Rebels, 552. Retreats to Bengal, 553. Seizes Behar and Bengal, 553. Defeated and flies to the Deckan, 553. Deserted by his army, 554. Flies to Sinde, 559. On Jehangir's death, arrives from the Deckan and is proclaimed, 562. His war in the Deckan, 564. Succeeds against the King of Ahmednagar, 565. His war with Bijapur, 567. Failure of the siege, 567. Another failure, 568. Exacts tribute from Golconda, 569. Moves to Cabul, 570. Abandons his conquests, 571. His illness, 577. His daughters, 578. His govern- ment administered by his son Dara, 579. Reassumesthe government, 580. His wishes disregarded by Dara, 582. On Dara's defeat by Aurangzib, is confined in his palace, 584. Close of his reign, 585. Character, 588. Death of, 614 Shahji Bosla attempts to restore the King of Ahmednagar, 568. His submission, 569, 603. Seized by the Bijapur government, as a hostage for his son, 605. Is released, 606. His death, and possessions in India, 611 Shah Sur Adali (Mohammed), 450- 452 Shah Tahmasp forces Humayun to profess the Shia religion, 453. Sends an army to restore Humayun, 456 Shams ud din Altamish, 363. Death of, 367 Shayista Khan, marches against Sivaji, 610. Governor of Bengal, 610 Shehriyar, Prince, marries Nur Jehan's daughter, 551. Supersedes Shah Jehan in the task of retaking Canda- MV har, 552. Defeated and put to death, 562 Shia religion forced upon Humayun, 453. Suppressed by Nadir, 697. Nadir's fears of the, 713. Yusuf Adil Shah's attempt to introduce, 737 Shir Khan Sur, early life and rise of, 434. Obtains possession of Behar, 436. And conquers Bengal, 436. His plan for resisting invasion, 438. Active operations of, 438. Assumes the title of king, 439. Intercepts Humayun' s retreat, 439. Surprises and disperses his army, 439. Takes possession of all Humayun's domin- ions, 446. Recovers Malwa, 446. Massacres the garrison of Raisin, 446. Invades Marwar, 447. Takes Chitor, 447. Is killed, 447. Char- acter of, 447. His internal improve- ments, 447 Shuja, Prince, 577. His rebellion, 579. Advances on Agra, 580. Is defeajbed, and returns to Bengal, 580. Ad- vances from Bengal to Benares, 591. Is defeated, 592. Further operations against, by Prince Sultan and Mir Jumla, 596. Prince Sultan goes over to, 596. Flies to Aracan, 597. Uncertainty regarding his fate, 597 Shuja ud Doula, 721, 724, 728 Shukoh, Dara. See Dara Siege of Chanderi, 424. Of Chunar, 437. Of Bijapur, 567, 637. Of Candahar, 573. Of Jinji, 641-647 Sikhs, rise of the, 662. Their character, 662. Persecuted by the Mahome- tans, 662. Formed into a religious and military commonwealth, 663. Are at first overpowered, 663. Fanaticism of, 664. Successes, rav- vages, and cruelties of, 664. Marched against by Bahadur, 664. They are driven into the hills, 664. Renewed devastation of, 669. De- feated and nearly extirpated, 670 Sikri, battle of, 423 Sind, its junction with Guzerat, 2. Conquest of, by the Arabs, 299. Arabs expelled, 304. Attempts upon, by Humayun, 441. Conquest of, by Akber, 509. History of, 749 Sindia, origin of this Maratta family, 687 Singhar surprised by Sivaji, 617 Sirhind, 409 Sirinagar, 590, 597 Siva, the god, 95, 107 Sivaji, his early robberies, 603. His adherents, 603. Usurps his father's jagir, 604. Revolts against the government of Bijapur, 605. Takes 766 INDEX SLA TUG possession of the Northern Concaii, 605. His attachment to the Hindu religion, 605. His father seized as a hostage, 605. Renews his en- croachments, 606. Plunders the Mogul provinces, 606. Forgiven by Aurangzib, 606. Pursued by Afzal Khan, whom he assassinates, 606, 607. Another army sent against him from Bijapur, 608. Makes a favourable peace, 608. His rupture with the Moguls, and night exploit, 609. Pursued by Shayista Khan, 610. And Prince Moazzim, 610. Plunders Surat, 611. His maritime exploits, 611. Assumes sovereignty, 611. Raja Jei Sing sent against him, 611. His submission, 612. Co-operates with Jei Sing, 612. Goes to Delhi, 612. Entrapped by Aurangzib, 613. Escapes and re- treats to Raighar, 614. His pro- gress, 615. Makes peace with the Emperor, 615. Levies tribute on Bijapur and Golconda, 615. His internal arrangements, 616. Sur- prises Singhar, 617. Ravages the Mogul territory, 617. Defeats the Moguls in a field-action, 618. His conquests from Bijapur, 628. Crowned at Raighar, 629. His incursion into the Mogul territory, 629. His expedition to the south of India, 629. Takes Jinji, 630. His son deserts to the Moguls, 631. His death and character, 631, 632 Slave, progress of a Turki, 362 Slave kings, 362, 370 Slavery, 201. Absence of, according to the Greeks, 257 Slaves, Balban puts down their influ- ence, 372 Soffarides, 310, 318 Soil, property in the, 78 Solar race, 149, 224 Soleiman, attempts to assassinate Ala ud din, 384. His failure and death, 385 Soleiman, Prince, defeats Shuja at Benares, 580. Deserted by his allies, 590. Flies to Sirinagar, and is imprisoned, 590. Given up by the raja, 597 Somnat, 326 Sophis, dynasty, 420, 452, 691 Spices, etc., 7 Spirits, good and evil, 43, 101 States, the ancient Hindu, 223, 234. The Greek accounts of, 258. Formed on the dissolution of the empire under Mohammed Tughlak, 463, 735. Rajput, 355, 469 Subahs, 532 Sudras, 18, 58, 257, 601 Sultana Rezia, 367 (vide Rezia). Chand, 511, 513 Sumera Rajputs, 304, 749 Sun, races of the, 149, 224 Sunni sect, 453, 465, 697, 737 Superstitions, Mahometan, 475. Hindu, Akber's restrictions on, 526 Sur Adali (Mohammed Shah), 450 Sur, the family of, 350, 446 Surat, plundered by Sivaji, 611 „ Tagara, 242 Taherites, the, 310 Tahmasp, Shah, 453. Tahmasp 695 Taj Mahal, the, 587 Tales, Hindu, 172 Talicota, battle of, 467 Tamerlane, his invasion, 405. Sacks Delhi, 406. Proclaimed Emperor of India, 406. Retires from India, 407. His character, 407, 408 Tamil country and language, 162, 235 Tanesar, capture of, 323 Tanjore, 638 Tara Bai, 660, 710 Tartars, 306, 314, 319 Tax, Poll, on infidels. See Jizya Taxes, 23, 76, 259, 530 Telingana, 238. Failure of expeditions to, 387, 394. Conquered, 394. Raja of, released and restored, 394. Re- covers its independence, 398 Telugu, country and language, 162, 236 Tenants, temporary and permanent, 73 Theistical Sankhya, 128 Thieves, hereditary, 208 Todar Mai, 498, 508. His reforms, 531 Towns, 190, 477 Township, government of, 69, 71 Townspeople, manner of life of the Hindu, 198 Trade, 181-186 Transoxiana, 306. Turks in, 308. Arab conquests of, 309. Conquest of, by Mahmud, 323. Baber driven out of, 417, 420 Trees of India, 5 Tributary territories, 84 Tughlak, house of, 394-409. Ghiyus ud din, 394. Mohammed, character of, 395. Wild schemes of, 396. Projected conquest of Persia, 396. Attempt to conquer China, 396. His tyranny, 397. Rebellions INDEX 767 TUR against, 397-399. His activity, 3